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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS 



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SANBORN TENNEY AND ABBY A. TENNEY 



ILLUSTRATED WITH FIVE HUNDRED WOOD ENGRAVINGS 

CHIEFLY OF NORTH AMERICAN ANIMALS 




tf3F W*l 



REVISED EDITION 






NEW YORK • :• CINCINNATI • :• CHICAGO 
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 






COPTRIGHT, 1895, BY 

ABBY A. TENNEY. 



NAT. HIST. OF AN. 
A. I. 



THIS BRTEF ACCOUNT 



gftje ^nimaX kingdom 



IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 



TO THE YOUNG 



PREFACE. 



This little volume contains a brief account of the 
Animal Kingdom, and it is hoped that it may aid 
parents and teachers in interesting the young in the 
delightful and important study of Natural History. 
As indicated on the title page, it serves the purpose 
of a key to the Natural History Tablets, but is also 
complete in itself without the Tablets. 

It is proper to add that the engravings are the 
same, with few exceptions, as those in Tenney's 
" Manual of Zoology," and that those of the Mammals 
are mainly from Schinz, Audubon and Bachman, and 
Richardson ; of the Birds, mainly from Audubon 
and Wilson ; of the Reptiles and Batrachians, mainly 
from Holbrook ; of the Fishes, from Storer, Holbrook, 
DeKay, and from nature ; of the Insects, from Harris, 
Emmons, Say, Sanborn, and from nature ; of the Crus- 
taceans, mainly from nature and Reports ; of the Mol- 
lusks, from Binney, Woodward, Gould, Lea, Conrad, 



8 PREFACE. 

and from nature ; of the Echinoderms, from nature, 
Agassiz, and Muller; of the Acalephs, from Agassiz; 
of the Polyps, from Dana, Milne-Edwards, Verrill, 
and from nature ; and of the Protozoans, mainly from 
Ehrenberg and Huxley. 

Both this volume and the " Elements of Zoology" 
already announced by Messrs. Scribner and Co., and 
which will combine the study of the Anatomy and 
Physiology of Animals with that of Descriptive 
Zoology, are intended to precede the Manual men- 
tioned above. 

Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 
August, 1866. 

In the present edition a few changes have been 
made, as the volume is no longer to be used in con- 
nection with the Natural History Tablets. 

May, 1895. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANIMALS n 

VERTEBRATES, OR BACK BONED ANIMALS 19 

Mammals 22 

Birds , 72 

Reptiles 114 

Batrachians 120 

Fishes 1 24 

TUNICATES 139 

ARTHROPODS, OR JOINTED ANIMALS 139 

Insects 1 39 

Arachnids 193 

M yriapods 1 97 

Crustaceans 1 97 

MOLLUSKS, OR SOFT-BODIED ANIMALS 203 

Cephalopods 205 

Gastropods 210 

Heteropods and Pteropods 222 

Lamellibranchia 223 

9 



IO CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

VERMES, OR WORMS 229 

Brachiopods 231 

POLYZOA 232 

Parasitic Worms 233 

ECHINODERMS, OR STARFISHES 233 

HOLOTHURIANS 233 

echinoidea 234 

Sea Stars 238 

Ophiurans 240 

Crinoids 241 

CCELENTERATES, OR LASSO-THROWERS 242 

ACALEPHS 242 

Polyps 252 

SPONGES 265 

PROTOZOANS 266 

CONCLUSION 269 

INDEX 273 



NATURAL HISTORY OF AXIMALS. 



A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANIMALS. 

Animals are living beings which feed upon plants, 
— or, in many cases, upon animals whose food is 
plants, — and in which the sense of feeling and the 
power of motion are well developed. The kinds of 
animals are very numerous, — more numerous than the 
kinds of trees in the forest and the flowers of the 
meadows and fields; and they are of all sizes, from 
those so minute that thousands can sport in a drop of 
water, to those of large dimensions, like the Horse and 
the Ox, the Elephant and the Whale ; and their forms 
are as various as their sizes and kinds. But the name 
Animal is given to them all, whatever their size or 
form, and whether they swim, creep, fly, walk, or run. 

Animals are most interesting objects for study, and 
the child as well as the man is delighted with learning 
their forms, structure, color, habits, and names, and 
soon becomes as eager as a naturalist to find a new 
Bird or a new Butterfly. 

Some kinds of animals, as Man, Cattle, Deer, Sheep, 
Beasts of Prey, Birds, Turtles, Lizards, Snakes, Frogs, 
and Fishes, have a backbone, and a spinal cord 
which is enlarged at the forward end into an organ 



12 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANIMALS. 







Fig. i. — Deer — American Elk. 




Fig. 2. — Bird — Duck. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANIMALS. 



13 



called the brain ; and as the backbone is made up of 
parts called vertebrae, these animals have been named 
Vertebrates. See Figures 1-6. 




Fig. 3. — Turtle. 




Fig. 5. — Frog. 





Fig. 4. — Snake. Fig. 6. — Fish. 

Other animals, as Bees, Butterflies, Flies and all 
other Insects, Spiders, Mites, Crabs, Lobsters, and 



14 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANIMALS. 




Fig. 9. — Earthworm. 



Shrimps, are made up of a series of rings, or joints, 
each bearing a pair of jointed appendages, and hence 
are called ARTHROPODS from a word which means 
jointed legs. See Figures 7 and 8. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANIMALS. 




Fig. it. — Land Snail. 





Fig. 12. — Snail Shell. 



Fig. 13. — Fresh-water Mussel. 



Other kinds of animals, as Squids, Snails, Mussels, 
Clams, and Oysters, have neither a backbone nor a 
jointed body ; but the whole body is soft, usually 
with a shell outside, but sometimes without a shell, 
and they are called MOLLUSKS, from a word which 
means soft. See Figures 10-13. 



i6 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANIMALS. 



Still other kinds of animals, as Sea Cucumbers, Sea 
Urchins, Sea Stars, Serpent Stars, and Crinoids are 




Fig. 14. — Sea Urchin. 










Fig. 15. — Sea Star or Starfish. 



star-shaped, or flower-shaped, their parts radiating from 
a common center or axis. They have a distinct stomach 
and their skin is usually hardened and covered with 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANIMALS. 




Fig. 16. —Jellyfish. 




Fig. 18. — Coral Polyps. 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 2 




Fig. 19. — Coral Polyps. 



1 8 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ANIMALS. 

spines. Hence they are called ECHINODERMS or 
Hedgehog-skinned. See Figures 14, 15. 

A third kind of animals, like the Earthworm (Fig. 9), 
is jointed, but has no jointed legs. These are called 
VERMES or Worms. Such are the Sea-worms (Fig. 456), 
the Hair Worm, and the Vinegar Eel. 

There is another sort of animal in which the parts 
radiate from a center. These are the Jellyfishes, Sea 
Anemones, and Coral Polyps. In these animals there 
are always found microscopic lassos for capturing their 
food. So we may call them the Lasso-throwers. The 
zoologists give them the long name CCELENTERATES, 
from the fact that the wall of the stomach is not 
separate from that of the body. See Figures 16-19. 

There is a still lower group of animals, related to 
the Ccelenterates. This is the type of the SPONGES. 
See Figures 511, 512. 

There is a group of still simpler animals, so small 
that they can be seen only with the aid of the micro- 
scope. These are called PROTOZOANS, which word 
means first or simplest animals. See Figures 513- 520. 



VERTEBRATES, OR BACKBONED ANIMALS. 



The Vertebrates, as stated on page 1 1, have a back- 
bone made of parts, each 
one of which is called a 
vertebra. This backbone 
is the most important 
portion of a bony frame- 
work called the skele- 
ton. Upon this skeleton 
is placed the flesh, and 
outside of the whole is 
the skin, which is naked, 
or covered with hair, fur, 
feathers, or scales, accord- 
ing to the kind of ani- 
mal. Within the head is 
a wonderful organ called 
the brain, which has a 
branch called the spinal 
cord, extending through 
the body, and contained 
in a tube formed above 
the main part of the 
backbone. From the 
spinal cord and brain 
there are little branches, 
called nerves, which 
reach to all parts of the 
head and body. The 
brain, spinal cord, and 
nerves are called the 
nervous system, which Fig. 21. 

19 




Fig. 20. — Skeleton of the highest 

Vertebrate — Man. 

b, b, backbone. 



A single vertebra, the 
round white space show- 
ing the place of the spi- 
nal cord. 




20 VERTEBRATES. 

is much the same in its general character in all verte- 
brates. This system as it appears in Man, the highest 

vertebrate, is shown 

] - a in Fig. 22. Besides 

b inclosing the brain 

^ ^ c and spinal cord, the 

skeleton protects the 

organs for breathing 

and digestion, and 

supplies the levers 

by which the muscles 

''/// tf ^KSv move the animal. 

^Jlivis ^Hk As the brain and 

spinal cord are alike 
in their position and 
general outlines in 
all vertebrates, only 
differing in size and 
i \^ in degree of perfec- 

1 LTO tion, so also are the 

*™ skeletons of all ver- 

tebrates alike in their 
principal features. 
The backbone of one, 
in its position and 

Fig. 22. -Nervous system of the"highcst ^V2\ outlines, COr- 

Vertebrate — Man. responds to that of 

a, principal brain, called the hemispheres; b, all the Others ; SO 

smaller brain; c, spinal cord giving off its branches w j|- n ^ Q head and 

of nerves. 

limbs. The arm of 
Man, the arm of a Monkey, the wing of a Bat, the leg 
of a Mole, the leg of a Dog, the paddle of a Seal, the 
leg of a Sheep, the paddle of a Whale, the wing of a 





Arm of Man 



Arm of Gorilla 



Wing of Rat. 

Leg of Mole. 
Leg of Dog. 

Paddle of Seal 
Leg of Sheep 



Wing of Bird 



Leg of Turtle. 



Fin of Fish 



22 VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 

Bird, the leg of a Turtle, and the fin of a Fish, corres- 
pond to one another in their most important features, 
each being modified according to the use to which it is 
put. This is quite plainly seen in Figs. 23-33, where 
corresponding parts are marked with the same letter. 

The Vertebrates are divided into Mammals, Birds, 
Reptiles, Batrachians, and Fishes. 

MAMMALS. 

The Mammals are Vertebrates whose skin is covered 
with hair and which bring forth living young and nour- 
ish them with milk. Man, Monkeys, Beasts of Prey, 
Hoofed Animals, Whales, Bats, Moles, Squirrels and 
Rats, Sloths, Kangaroos and Opossums, and Duckbills, 
come under this head. They all breathe air by means 
of lungs, have warm blood which is sent throughout 
the body by means of a heart constructed like that of 
Man, and the neck has only seven vertebrae. 

Man. 

Man is at the head of the Animal Kingdom. He is 
the only animal to whom the upright position is nat- 
ural ; the only one which has a perfect hand ; the only 
one whose forward extremities — arms and hands — are 
not used for locomotion ; the only one that laughs ; the 
only one that speaks a language ; his brain is larger 
than that of almost any other animal, * and he can live 
in all countries. But Man is also far more than an 
animal. He has a mind and a soul and can learn 
much about the things which God has made. 

*The brain of the Elephant and of the Whale is larger than that of 
Man, but the animals themselves are also far larger. 



MONKEYS. 



Monkeys, or Quadrumana. 



23 



Apes and Monkeys are animals all of whose four 
feet are hand-like, as the great toe can be shut against 
the other toes, like a thumb. Hence comes their 




Fig. 34. — Chimpanzee, 

scientific name, Quadrumana, which means four- 
handed. But though these hands are well adapted for 
grasping and climbing, they are much inferior to the 
perfect hand of Man. Some kinds of Ape can stand 



24 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



upright, but not firmly, for the soles of their feet 
nearly face each other, and cannot be brought flat to 
the ground like the foot of Man. About eighty kinds 
of Monkey live in the forests of the warm parts of 
Asia and Africa, and even more kinds in South 




Fig. 35. — Orang-outang. 

America. Those of Africa and Asia have thirty-two 
teeth, their nostrils near together, and their tail, even 
when present, is not capable of grasping objects. Most 
of the Monkeys of America have thirty-six teeth, the 



MONKEYS. 



^5 



nostrils far apart, and many of them have the tail 
capable of grasping objects, and thus of being used in 
climbing and in picking up objects which cannot be 
reached by the hand. Monkeys live mainly on the 
trees, and feed upon fruits, nuts, eggs, and insects. 
They are mischievous and thievish. 

The Chimpanzee of Western Africa is one of the 
Monkeys having no tail, which are called Apes. Of 
all its tribe, it is thought to be the most like Man ; but 
the great African Ape, called the Gorilla, is a larger 
species. Although when in an upright position the 
Chimpanzee somewhat resembles a human being, its 
long muzzle and other characters separate it widely 
even from the lowest tribes 
of the human family. The 
Orang-outang is an Ape 
which inhabits Borneo, and 
is smaller than the Chim- 
panzee. The latter may be 
nearly five feet high. The 




Fig. 36. — Skull of Baboon. 





Fig. 37- — Kahau. 



Fig. 38. — Spider Monkey. 



Kahau of India is about the size of a large dog, and is 
named from its peculiar cry. The Baboons, often 



26 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



called Dog-headed Monkeys and Mandrills, have a 
very long muzzle, like that of a Dog, as shown by 
Fig. 36. They are common in Africa ; some of them 
are very large and ferocious ; in appearance they are 
the ugliest of all the Apes. The Spider Monkey of 





Fig. 39- — Marmoset. 



Fig. 40. — Lemur. 



South America is so called from its long, slender legs. 
Its long tail is of great aid in climbing. The Marmosets 
of Brazil are very small and curious Monkeys, with long, 

soft, and beautifully col- 
ored fur. 

The Lemurs, or Makis, 
are pretty monkey-like ani- 
mals, most of which live in 
Madagascar. The tail is 
quite bushy, and in many 
respects they much resem- 
ble common four-footed 
animals. The Aye-aye is 
a curious monkey-like ani- 
Aye-ave. mal, about as large as a Cat, 




FLESH-EATERS. 2J 

which lives in Madagascar. Its incisor teeth are like 
those of the Rodents, its middle finger is exceedingly 
elongated and slender, and its tail is bushy. 

Some kinds of Monkeys imitate the actions of men, 
and their efforts of this sort are often ludicrous. 

Flesh-eaters, or Carnivora. 

These animals have their teeth and claws very sharp, 

and they capture and devour other animals for food. 

In the Cats, the back teeth, 

or molars, have sharp 

edges, and those in the two 

jaws shut by each other 

like the blades of scissors, 

and thus cut the flesh into 

pieces fit for swallowing. 

In others, like the Bears, 

the back teeth are fitted for 

. .. , . , Fig. 42. — Teeth of a Flesh-eater, 

grinding, and such do not 

live exclusively on flesh. Cats, Hyenas, Dogs, Civets, 

Weasels, Bears, and Seals are the chief Carnivora. 

Cats. 

Of all the Carnivora the Cats have the keenest senses 
and the quickest movements, and they are the most 
rapacious. Their tread is noiseless, the bottoms of 
their feet being like a cushion ; they stealthily approach 
their prey, and when near enough, seize upon it with a 
sudden spring. The name Cat is given not only to the 
domestic varieties of this sort, but also to the Lion, 
Tiger, Panther, Leopard, Puma, Lynx, Jaguar, and 
Wild Cat. The Lion, Panther, and Leopard inhabit 




28 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



Africa and Southern Asia, and the Tiger is found in 
Asia, the first and last being the largest of all the Cat 




Fig. 43 — Puma. 

tribe. The Puma is found from Canada to Patagonia; 
it is larger than the largest Dog, and preys upon 




Fig. 44. — Canada Lynx. 

deer, sheep, hares, and sometimes attacks human 
beings. It climbs trees, and often lies upon a limb in 



FLESH-EATERS. 29 

wait for prey. The Jaguar inhabits South America, 
and is found as far north as Texas and as far south as 
Patagonia. The American Wild Cat and Canada Lynx 
much resemble each other, but the Lynx is the larger, 
being about three feet long, and has ears tipped with 
long black hairs. They feed upon small quadrupeds 
and birds, often pursuing the latter into tree-tops. 

Hyenas. 

Hyenas live in Africa and Asia, and are about the 
size of a very large Dog. They live in dens and caves, 
come forth at night in search of food, feeding mainly 
on animals which they find dead. They are ferocious 
and greedy, and have such stout teeth and powerful 
jaws that they are able to crush the bones of the largest 
prey, the fragments of which they swallow without 
masticating them. 

Dogs, Wolves, and Foxes. 

The Dog is the only animal that has followed man 
to all parts of the world. The varieties are numerous, 
and differ from one another greatly in their appearance 
and habits. Some of the most distinct varieties are 
the Greyhound, St. Bernard, Newfoundland, Eskimo, 
Shepherd Dog, Fox Terrier, Deerhound, Bloodhound, 
Spaniel, Setter, Pointer, Poodle, Terrier, Mastiff, etc. 
The Dog is noted for its sagacity, courage, and faith- 
fulness. 

Wolves are ferocious and greedy animals, about the 
size of a large Dog. They often hunt in companies or 
packs, and thus are able to kill animals which singly 
they could not master. In newly settled parts of the 



30 



VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 



country, they destroy sheep, calves and other animals 
of the farm. The White and Gray Wolf is found in 
nearly all the thinly settled regions of North America. 




Fig. 45. — American White and Gray Wolf. 

The Prairie Wolf is common in the regions west of the 
Mississippi River. 

Foxes are distinguished from all the rest of the Dog 
family by their pointed muzzle and large bushy tail. 
They are the most sly and crafty of all animals, con- 
triving to steal turkeys, geese, chickens and whatever 
they want to eat, and carry them away to their lurking- 
places in the woods and thickets. They are hunted 
with hounds, which go in swift pursuit, while the 
hunter, knowing the habits of the animal, conceals 
himself in some valley or other locality where the fox 
will be almost sure to pass, and when it comes near 
enough shoots him down. But it must be stated that, 
in many cases, the shrewd movements of the fox 
deceive both the hunter and the dogs. If captured 
alive, which rarely happens, and struck while it is in a 
situation from which it cannot escape, the fox feigns 
itself dead, though unhurt, and when its captor is off 
his guards will jump up and run away. 






FLESH-EATERS. 

Civets. 



31 



Civets are about the size of the house Cat, and with 
one exception belong to the 
Old World. The Civet of 
Texas and California is of a 
grayish color, its tail being 
white with black rings. It 
lives upon the trees, is lively 
and playful, and, though shy, 
is easily tamed, and some- 
times kept as a pet. 




Fig. 46. — Civet. 



Fishers, Martens or Sables, Weasels, Otters, etc. 

These animals have, in most cases, a slender body, 
and long soft fur, especially in winter. They are quick 
in movement, and destructive to other small animals. 

The American Fisher is about the size of a Cat, but 
with a much more slender body, and is nearly black. 
The American Sable, or Pine Marten, of the Northern 
States and Canada, is much smaller than the Fisher, of 





3-,-^: 



Fig. 47. — Weasel. 



Fig. 48. — American Sable. 



a brownish-yellow color, and is celebrated for its beau- 
tiful and valuable fur, which is generally called the 
Hudson Bay sable. The fur known as the Russian 
sable comes from a very similar animal which lives in 
Siberia. The Pine Marten delights in dense woods, 



32 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



where it pursues and captures hares, birds, and squir- 
rels, swiftly following the latter even among the tree- 
tops. Its retreats, especially in winter, are hollow 
trees, and it is often seen by the hunter sitting with 
the head just out of its hole. If shot while in this 
position, it falls back into the hole and is lost ; so the 
hunter, knowing its habits, walks slowly around the 
tree ; the sable comes out to gratify its curiosity by a 
look at the hunter, and is then shot and falls to the 
ground. More than a hundred thousand skins of this 
animal have been collected in northern North America 
in a single year. 

True Weasels vary from five inches to a foot in length, 
and are generally brown in summer and white in win- 
ter, the tail tipped with black. There are half a dozen 
kinds in North America. The fur known as ermine 
is furnished by the Weasels, the most valuable coming 
from Siberia. Weasels are generally bold, courageous, 
and extremely bloodthirsty, eagerly attacking animals 
much larger than themselves. They destroy rats and 
birds, and commit great havoc among poultry, a single 
individual having been known to kill fifty chickens in 
one night and the evening of the following day, and 
to kill several chickens in a coop near which a man 

was standing. 

Minks are about a foot and 
a half long to the tail, and are 
dark brown or black. They 
are found about ponds and 
streams, and their fur is very 
beautiful, and is often sold 
under the name of American 

Fig. 49 —Mink. sable. 







FLESH-EATERS. 



33 



The Wolverine, found in the Northern States and 
Canada, and in the northern part of Europe and Asia, 




is about three feet long, of a dark eolor, and is very 
powerful and ferocious when attacked. It is very 
troublesome to sable hunters, breaking down their 
wooden traps, and eating the bait and game. It is so 
shrewd that it scarcely ever enters the trap, and hence 
is not often caught. 




Fig. 51. — American Otter. 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 3 



34 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



Otters live in and about the water, and feed upon 
fish. They are sportive in their disposition, and amuse 
themselves by " sliding down hill." Selecting a steep 
bank of a river, they slide head foremost into the 
water, and repeat the operation many times, appa- 
rently with delight. Otters are three or four feet long 
from the nose to the tip of the tail, the color dark 
brown, and the fur is of two kinds, one short, fine, and 
thick, the other long, coarse, and scattered. When 
taken young, Otters are easily tamed, and become so 
familiar that they will lie in the lap like a cat. 

Skunks are found only in 
America, and are notorious on ac- 
count of their disagreeable odor. 
They are a foot and a half long 
to the tail, and the color is black 
and white. They live in burrows, 
and seek their food at night, eat- 
ing beetles and other small in- 
sects, and eggs. Since their food 
consists so largely of insects, they 
are useful to the farmer. Their fur is also of commer- 
cial value. 




Fig. 52. — Skunk. 




Fig- 53- — American Badger. 



FLESH-EATERS 



35 




ig- 54- — Grizzly Bear. 



36 



VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 



The Badger of western North America is about two 
feet long, with a stout body and short tail, and its color 
is gray. The hair is long, extending on the hind part 
of the body so as nearly to conceal the tail. Badgers 
live in burrows, and dig with astonishing rapidity. 

Bears and Raccoons. 




Bears and others, of this family walk on the sole of 
the foot. They feed upon flesh, berries, and roots. 

The Raccoon of the United States is about as large 
as a middle-sized Dog, with a thick body, looking some- 
what like a small Bear 
with a long tail ; the 
color is grayish, and 
the tail is ringed with 
black and dingy white. 
Bears are very large. 
Fig- 55- — Raccoon. The Grizzly, of the 

Rocky Mountains, is six or eight feet in length, and 
weighs in some cases eight hundred pounds, and the 
nails or claws are six inches long. It is the most 
powerful animal in America, and when wounded is 
very dangerous to the hunter. It has been seen to 
drag away a large bison, after killing it. The Black 
Bear of the Northern States is much smaller than 
the Grizzly and less ferocious, seldom attacking men 
when not molested ; but if disturbed when accompa- 
nied by its cubs, it fights very savagely. 






Seals and the Walrus. 



The Seals and the Walrus live in the sea, but often 
come upon the rocks and ice-banks to lie in the sun- 



HOOFED ANIMALS. 



37 



shine. The head of the Seal much resembles that of 
a Dog, and its eyes are beautiful and intelligent in ap- 
pearance. When taken young, Seals are easily tamed, 
and become attached and obedient to those who feed 




Fig. 56. — Seal. 

them, coming at call and performing curious feats ac- 
cording to their master's directions. Some years ago, 
in a large tank of sea water in the Aquarial Gardens 
at Boston were two seals called " Ned " and " Fanny," 
which were so tame that they would come to the keeper 
at call and allow him to handle them, would shoulder 
a miniature musket, turn the crank of a hand organ, 
shake hands with the bystanders, and " Ned," espe- 
cially, would even " throw a kiss " to the ladies. Seals 
feed upon fish, and always eat in the water. They are 
from three to twenty feet long. 

The Walrus has a body as large as the largest Ox, 
and is covered with short brown hair. Two of its upper 
teeth, the canines, or eyeteeth, in the male grow to be 
tusks two feet long. These tusks assist in climbing 
upon the ice-banks, serve as a means of defense, and 
aid in securing food. The Walrus is found in the 
Arctic Ocean. Their skins, oil, and ivory are valuable. 



Hoofed Animals, or Ungulates. 

These are Mammals which feed wholly upon vegeta- 
tion, and which have hoofed feet, and use their limbs 



38 VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 

only for standing, walking, and running. Some of 
them, as the Hog, Deer, Antelopes, Sheep, Goats, 
and Oxen, have the foot divided or cleft, forming 
an even number of toes. Most Ungulates of this 
sort chew the cud, and from the latter fact are known 
as Ruminants, a name which means aid-cliewers. 
Others, as the Horse, Ass, and Rhinoceros, have only 
one toe or an odd number of toes. There are thus 
two groups of Hoofed Mammals, the odd-toed and 
even-toed Ungulates. Most of the domestic animals 
belong to the Ungulates. 

Hogs. 

The Hog has four toes, — although only two are used 
in walking, — a long snout, coarse bristles, a simple 
stomach, and teeth fitted for a mixed diet. There are 
incisor teeth in both jaws ; the grinders are capped 
with rounded elevations. The purely herbivorous Cat- 
tle and Horses have ridges of enamel on the grinders. 

There are numerous kinds of Hogs, more than fifteen 
having been described, mostly from the old world. 
The Wild Boar of Europe is the race from which our 
Domestic Hog has sprung. Perhaps other species have 
been tamed in other parts of the world. Many nat- 
uralists think that the Hog of China and Eastern Asia 
came from another species. The crossing of this form 
with our native Hogs has given rise to many of the 
best breeds. 

The wild Hogs of America are quite different from 
the Wild Boar, and are small animals, called Peccaries. 
They are chiefly found in South America, but one 
kind is found as far north as northern Texas. 



CUD-CHEWERS. 39 

Hippopotami. 

The Hippopotamus is a huge hog-like animal, living 
in the rivers of Africa. It measures as much as 
twelve feet in length. It lives in herds of twenty to 
forty individuals in the beds and near the banks of 
rivers, where it finds its food. This is chiefly grass 
and water plants, of which it consumes an immense 
quantity, as its stomach can hold five or six bushels. 
In places inhabited by man it often does great harm 
to the fields and gardens, whose products it prefers to 
the wild vegetation. 

CUD-CHEWERS, OR RUMINANTS. 

The remainder of the even-toed Ungulates are called 
Ruminants, from the fact that they chew the cud. 
The stomach has four divisions. The food goes into 
the first of these, the paunch, when first swallowed, and 
is afterwards brought up and chewed again. When 
swallowed the second time it goes into the true 
stomach, where it is digested. To this group belong 
Camels, Deer, Oxen, Sheep, Goats, and Antelopes. 

Camels and Llamas. 

The Camel is a native of Central and Southern Asia, 
and, from the earliest times, has rendered such impor- 
tant services to the inhabitants of the East in carrying 
merchandise across the deserts, that it has been called 
the "ship of the desert." Its feet are fitted for travel- 
ing in the sand, being covered with horny pads rather 
than with hoofs. Its strength and power of endurance 
are very great, it can live on the coarsest and most 



40 VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 

scanty vegetation, and travel for days without drinking. 
It can carry from five hundred to one thousand pounds. 




Fig. 57. — Llama. 

The Camel is larger than the Horse, and stands very 
high. There are two kinds, — one with two large 
humps upon the back, and the other with only one 
hump. Both live in the Old World and are found 
only as domesticated animals. 

The Llamas inhabit the Andes of South America, 
are much smaller than the Camel, being only four 
or five feet high, and have no hump. They live in 
herds, and are tamed and used as beasts of burden. 
The Alpaca is a variety of Llama with long woolly 
hair, which furnishes material for valuable fabrics. 
This is also a domestic animal ; there are also wild 
forms known as the Guanaco and the Vicuna. 

Deer. 

The Moose, Reindeer, Deer, and Elk all belong to 
the Deer family. The males have solid, bony horns 



CUD-C HEWERS. 



41 



called antlers, which they shed once a year, new and 
larger ones growing to take the places of those which 
have been shed. 




Fig. 58. — Moose. 



The Moose is the largest of all the Deer kind. It is 
as large as a Horse, and has an exceedingly long head, 
large flattened horns, and very long legs. It travels 
with an awkward gait, but with great speed, easily mak- 
ing its way through deep snows, bushes, over brush- 
heaps, fallen trees, fences, and whatever obstructions 
lie in its path. It was quite common in some parts of 



42 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



Maine, northern New York, and Canada, but is rapidly- 
disappearing, The color is grayish brown. 

The Reindeer is a much smaller animal than the 
Moose, being about five feet long and three feet high. 
It has become celebrated for the services it renders the 
Laplanders, who keep large herds of Reindeer, and use 
them for beasts of burden and for drawing their sledges. 
Their milk and flesh are good for food, and their skins 
are used for clothing. They are very hardy animals, 




Fig- 59- — American Reindeer, or Caribou. 



and subsist on the coarsest fare, eating the tender por- 
tions of shrubs in summer, and in winter scraping the 
snow from the ground and feeding upon the " reindeer 
moss." The American Reindeer, or Caribou, of Maine 
and Canada, and other northern parts of North Amer- 
ica, is by some thought to be of the same kind as the 



CUD-CHEWERS. 



43 



one found in Lapland. Unlike their relatives, both 
the male and the female Reindeer have horns. 

The American Elk, or Wapiti, is another kind of 
Deer which lives in the wooded regions of the north- 
ern parts of North America. It is nearly as large as 
the Moose, and has horns five or six feet long, and very 
much branched. 




Fig. 60. — American Elk, or Wapiti. 



The Common Deer, of the wild regions of the United 
States, is one of the most beautiful and graceful of all 
its family. It is very timid, and, when alarmed, bounds 
swiftly away. It is about the size of a Sheep, but with 
a much more slender body and much longer legs. It 



44 



VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 



is hunted in the autumn and winter, and great num- 
bers are sent to the markets. Its flesh is called veni- 
son, and is highly prized for food. 




Fig. 61. — Common, or Virginia. Deer. 



The Musk Deer inhabits Thi- 
bet, and is much smaller than 
the Common Deer, and has no 
horns. In each side of the 
upper jaw are long canine or 
eyeteeth, like tusks. The musk 
used in making perfumery is 
furnished by this animal. It 
is contained in a pouch on 
,g, 62. — Musk Deer, the under side of the body. 




Antelopes. 

Antelopes are found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and 
North America, but are most numerous in southern 



CUD-CHEWEkS 45 

Africa, where there are many kinds, and where herds 
of thousands are sometimes seen together. Their 
horns are hollow, composed of horn, and are variously 
wrinkled and curved. Antelopes vary in size from 
those as small as a Deer to those as large as a Horse. 
Most of the Antelopes belong to Africa. 

The Pronghorn Antelope, of the Rocky Mountains, 
is larger than a Sheep, with much longer neck and legs. 
Its hair is coarse and thick. It gets its name from the 




Fig. 63. — Pronghorn Antelope, 
prong, or branch, on each horn. This animal was found 
at times in large numbers, herds of a thousand and 
more having often been seen. The progress of settle- 
ment has exterminated the antelope over much of the 
region which it once inhabited and in which it was so 
abundant. It sheds its horns annually, and is the only 
Antelope which does so. 

The Mountain Goat of the Rocky Mountains, is an 
Antelope, and not a true Goat, as one would suppose 



4 6 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS 



from its name. It is, however, nearly allied to the 
Goats. It is entirely white, except its horns and hoofs, 
which are black. Its fleece is long and very fine, being 
equal in quality to that of the celebrated Cashmere 
Goat. It inhabits the lofty peaks of the mountains, 
frequenting the steepest places. 




Fig. 64. — Rocky Mountain Goat. 

The Gazelle, of Africa and Asia, is about the size of 
a small Deer, and is celebrated for its beautiful and 
graceful form, and for its large, dark, and lustrous 




Fig. 65. — Gazelle. 




CUD-CHEWERS. 



47 



eyes. The Orientals, or inhabitants of the East, com- 
pliment a lady by comparing her eyes to those of the 
Gazelle. When taken young, though wild and timid, 
it is easily tamed, and becomes a great favorite. 

The Chamois, of the high mountains of western 
Europe, is about the size of a goat, of a dark brown 
color, and its horns, towards the summit, are bent back- 
wards like a hook. It is very shy, and on the slightest 
alarm bounds swiftly away over rocks and glaciers, 
along dizzy heights, where it would seem no animal 
could get a foothold, often leaping upon a rock just 
large enough to receive its four feet placed together. 

Sheep and Goats. 

Sheep have the horns angular and directed back- 




Fig. 67. — Mountain Sheep, or Big-horn. 



4 8 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



ward, then spirally curved forward, and yellowish- 
brown in color. The Mountain Sheep, or Big-horn, 
of the Rocky Mountains, is much larger than the 
Domestic Sheep, and has very large horns. The hair 
is of a gray color and very coarse. 

Goats have the horns directed upward and back- 
ward, and the chin usually has a long beard. The 
wild kinds live upon high and rugged mountains, most 
of them in Asia. The Wild Goat of Persia is supposed 
to be the parent of the common Domestic Goat. The 
Cashmere Goat of Thibet is celebrated for its fine wool. 
Its hair is long and silky ; under it is a delicate gray 
wool, of which the costly Cashmere shawls are made. 

The Musk Ox. 

The Musk Ox, of Arctic America, is of the size of a 
small Cow, with very long, dark-brown, silky hair. It 




Fi k r. 68. — Musk Ox. 



lives in herds, sometimes numbering nearly one hun- 
dred. It feeds upon grass in the mild season, and in 






CUD-CHEWERS. 



49 



winter upon mosses and lichens, from the steep sides 
of hills blown bare by the winds, and up which it 
climbs with agility. In spite of its name, it is more 
nearly related to the Sheep than to the true Ox. 

The Bison, or American Buffalo. 

The Bison, or Buffalo, of the western plains, is the 
largest quadruped of America, being of the size of a 
large Ox. It is covered with thick dark hair, that about 




Fig. 69. — Bison, or American Buffalo. 

the head and shoulders being long and shaggy. At 
the time of the discovery of America, the Buffalo was 
found even to the shores of the Atlantic. It was not 
uncommon to see the prairies covered with Buffaloes as 
far as the eye could reach ; travelers have passed through 
herds of them for days in succession, with scarcely any 
apparent lessening of their numbers. Their paths re- 
sembled traveled roads ; and as their routes, in most 
cases, extended in a straight line from one convenient 
crossing-place of a river or ravine to another, taking 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 4 



50 VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 

springs or streams in their course, they used to serve as 
highways of travel to the explorers of the plains. 

The Buffalo is now nearly extinct. At present there 
are only a few hundred alive, most of them in Yellow- 
stone Park. As soon as the railways were built across 
the continent they were rapidly exterminated, being 
hunted for their skins. 

Oxen. 

The true Ox is known only as a domesticated animal, 
although there are some half-wild herds in certain parks 
in England which may represent the wild stock from 
which the Domestic Cattle came. In the time of Caesar, 
wild Cattle were abundant in the forests of Europe. 

Perhaps the Zebu, or " Sacred Cattle of India," had a 
different source, as there are several wild forms of 
Cattle in Asia, nearly related to the Domestic Ox. 

Odd-toed Ungulates. 

The Horse, Ass, and Zebra. 

In the Horse and its allies, the weight of the body is 
carried by the middle toe, the third in each foot. The 
second and fourth toes are represented by the splint 
bones. There are incisor teeth in each jaw and the 
stomach is simple. 

The Horse has been found in a wild state in the hi^h 
plateaus of Central Asia, and perhaps this form repre- 
sents the ancestor of the Domestic Horse. The wild 
Horses of America are the offspring of domesticated 
animals. A great amount of variation has been pro- 
duced by man in the size, structure and habits of the 



ODD-TOED UNGULATES. 5 I 

Horse. The size of different breeds ranges from the 
Shetland Pony, weighing hardly 150 pounds, to the 
Draught Horse, weighing nearly a ton. Equally great 
are differences in speed and bodily proportions. 

The Ass is a native of the Old World, where it is 
still found wild in Asia and northern Africa. It was 
one of the earliest animals to be tamed by man. 

The striped Zebras, of which there are three or four 
kinds, are all inhabitants of Africa. None of them 
have ever been domesticated. 

The Rhinoceros. 

The Rhinoceros is readily recognized by the horn 
placed on the nose. This horn differs in structure from 
those of either the Deer or the Ox. In the Deer, the 
horn or antler is made of true bone and is shed and re- 
placed annually. In the Ox, the horn is developed 
from the skin, is hollow, and is borne on a bony core. 
It is not shed. The horn of the Rhinoceros is also per- 
manent, but is composed of hair-like fibers fastened 
together. In some kinds of Rhinoceros there are two 
horns placed one behind the other. The forward horn 
may be as much as four feet long. 

The animal has three toes on each foot. The skin is 
very thick and is arranged in shield-like folds in the 
Indian Rhinoceros. In the African forms this arrange- 
ment is not found, though the skin is exceedingly 
dense and is used by the natives for shields. 

The Rhinoceros is the largest animal after the Ele- 
phant. Some are over fifteen feet long and six or 
more feet high. Even these, however, probably weigh 
but little more than the Hippopotamus. 



$2 VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 

In former geological times, the Rhinoceros lived in 
Europe and northern Asia. It was adapted to a cold 
climate by a thick coat of long hair and wool. Its body 
has been found preserved in the frozen soil of Siberia. 

Tapirs. 

The Tapirs are found in Central and South America 
and in the Malay Islands. They are large, heavy 
animals living in swamps and wet places, feeding on 
vegetation. They conceal themselves by day. They 
are hunted for the sake of their flesh and hides. 

Elephants, or Proboscidea. 

The Elephant is the largest land animal, being some- 
times nearly ten feet in height and weighing over 
8,000 pounds. The name of the group comes from the 
proboscis, or trunk, which is the greatly elongated nose. 
The head is very large and the neck is short, so that 
all food and water are obtained by the trunk. There 
are five toes on each foot, although there are not so 
many hoofs. The Asiatic Elephant has four hoofs on 
each foot, while the African form has only three on 
the hind feet. 

The tusks of the Elephant are its incisor teeth. Most 
of the ivory of commerce comes from Africa, where 
perhaps one hundred thousand Elephants are annually 
killed for their ivory. The tusks of the African Ele- 
phant are much larger than those of the Asiatic, and 
are borne by both males and females, while only the 
male of the Asiatic Elephant has tusks. 

The Asiatic Elephant is further distinguished from 
the African, by the fact that the forehead is concave 



WHALES. 53 

and the ears far smaller than those of its African rela- 
tive. The Asiatic form has been tamed from very 
early times, and many stories are told of its strength 
and sagacity. The African Elephant was tamed by 
the ancient Egyptians, but no nation at present employs 
it in domestic service. The Elephant rarely breeds in 
captivity, and the supply is kept up by annual hunts 
for new animals, which are soon tamed and set to work. 
The Elephants are now far less widely distributed 
over the world than in former times. The Mastodon 
and Elephant were formerly found both in America 
and Europe, even after the coming of man to those 
regions. In France a piece of the tusk of the Elephant 
has been found with a picture scratched upon it of the 
Elephant, drawn by some prehistoric artist. 

Whales, or Cetaceans. 

These Mammals live in the water, have their limbs 
paddle-like and fitted for swimming, and their whole 
appearance is fishlike ; but they are true mammals, 
nourishing their young with milk, breathing air for 
which they come often to the surface of the water, and 
their blood is warm. Most of them are large, some 
being the largest of living animals. They are covered 
with a smooth skin. They breathe through a hole, or 
holes, on the top of the back part of the head, through 
which some kinds spout spray to great heights. 

Right and Sperm Whales. 

The Greenland, or Right, Whale attains -the length of 
sixty or seventy feet. It has no real teeth, but in the 
upper jaw are rows of upright horny plates, called 



54 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



whalebone, which are fringed on their inner edges. 

Its food is small marine animals. Swimming through 

schools of these, the Whale 
takes millions into its mouth 
at once, and strains off the 
water through the whalebone 
plates, leaving the food in its 
mouth. This Whale supplies 

the world with whalebone, 
Fig. 70. — Skull of the Right . , , . , 

Whale, showing the ana - a l so furnishes more oil 

whalebone. than any other. Its home is 

in cool and frigid seas. 

The great Sperm Whale, of the warm parts of the 
ocean, is fully equal to the Right Whale in size. The 
upper jaw has neither teeth nor whalebone, but the 





Fig. 71. — Head of the Sperm Whale. 

lower has teeth. In the upper portion of the head 
there are cavities filled with oil, which hardens when 
cool and is known as spermaceti. The body yields 
sperm oil. Ambergris, a substance used by chemists 
in making perfumery, is found in the intestines of this 
Whale. 

The spouting, or blowing, is different in these two 
Whales ; for the Right Whale has two blow-holes on 
the top of the head, and the spout goes straight up or 



WHALES. 




;6 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



turns backward ; the Sperm Whale has only one blow- 
hole at the end of the nose, and sends up a low bushy 
spout, which turns forward. The spout is caused by 
the condensation of water from the lungs and by the 
water which lies in the blow-hole, which is violently 
forced out and blown into spray. No Whale takes 
water into the mouth and blows it out at the nostrils. 
The chase of the Whale was formerly a very impor- 
tant industry in which many American vessels were 
engaged. It is estimated that more than a quarter of 
a million Whales were killed between 1835 and 1878. 
The Whales are now far less abundant and the demand 
for their products is far smaller. The whalebone is 
probably now more valuable than the oil. Nowadays, 
the Whale is hunted with the steam whaler and killed 
by harpoon guns and bomb lances. Off the coast of 
Norway, the smaller kinds of Whale are hunted with 
steam tugs, which tow their catch to the harbor. 

Dolphins, Porpoises, and the White Whale. 

These animals live in herds, and prey upon fishes. 
The Common Dolphin is about eight feet long, black 




Fig. 73. — Dolphin. 



above and white below. The ancients believed this 
animal to be very docile and fond of music. The 



BATS. 



57 



White Whale lives in the northern seas, and is from 
ten to twenty feet long. It often ascends rivers, and 




Fig. 74. —White Whale. 

is frequently seen in the St. Lawrence. One about 
ten feet long, was kept for two years in the Aquarial 
Gardens in Boston. He was quite docile, knew his 
keeper, would take food from his hand, was trained to 
a harness, and drew a car prepared for the purpose. 

The Mammals already described are mostly of large 
size ; we now come to the smaller ones. 

Bats, or Cheiroptera. 



Bats are animals which have a thin skin reaching 
from the arm to the hind legs, and extending to the 
ends of their long fingers. By means of this skin they 
can fly as easily as birds, and their flight is noiseless 




Fig. 75- — Hoary Bat. 

and rapid. The body is covered with soft fur. Their 
eyes are very small, their ears large, and the thumb has 



58 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



a sharp hook. In the daytime they stay in caves, hollow 
trees, or other dark places, hanging by their hooks, or 
by the sharp claws of their hind feet. Bats can fly 
through the most winding and crooked passages with- 
out harm, even after their eyes have been destroyed. 
Some of the larger Bats of the East Indies eat fruits 
and birds, but most kinds feed upon insects, which 
they are catching when we see them flitting in the dusk 
of evening. The Red, and the Hoary Bat, three or 
four inches long, are common in North America. 

Insect-eaters, or Insectivora. 



The Insect-eaters include the Shrews, Moles, and 
Hedgehogs. Many naturalists also place here the Gale- 





^§0^ Fig. 76.— 

Galeopithccus. 



Fig- 77. — Teeth of an Insect- 
eater. 



opithecus, a curious batlike animal found on trees in 
the Indian Archipelago. The Insectivora sleep during 
the day, and go forth at night in search of food. In 
cool regions, many of them sleep all winter. 

Shrews. 

Shrews are little mouselike animals, — some of them 
smaller than the smallest Mice, — with a long and taper- 



INSECT-EATERS. 



59 



ing head and soft silky fur. They live under rubbish 
or dig homes in the ground, are very quarrelsome, and 




Fig. 78. — Thompson's Shrew. 



Fig. 79. — Water Shrei 



if two are confined together the weaker is soon killed. 
North America has more than a dozen kinds. 



Moles. 

Moles have a stout, thick body ; short, strong legs ; 
a short tail ; and very large fore feet fitted for digging. 
They feed on earthworms and insects. Their long 
burrows are their hunting grounds, which they range in 
search of food. Their 
eyes are very small, and 
their fur is soft, thick, and 
velvet-like. The Shrew 
Mole of North America is 
of the size of a very large 
Mouse, and its eyes are so small that many suppose it 
to be blind. The hole for the eye is only about the 
size of a hair, and the eyeballs are smaller than a mus- 
tard seed. The Star-nosed Mole is about the size of 




Fin. 80. — Shrew Mole. 





Fig. 81. — Nose of Star-nosed 
Mole. 



Fig. 82. 



Skull of Star-nosed 
Mole. 



the Shrew Mole, and is so named from the form of 
the end of the nose, which is star-shaped. 



6o 



VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 



Hedgehogs. 

These animals are short and thick, and the back is 
covered with spines. When alarmed, they take the 




Fig. 83. — Madagascar Hedgehog, or Tenrec. 

form of a ball, presenting the spines in every direction, 
to ward off attacks. They sleep during the day in 
concealed places, and come forth at night to feed upon 




Fig. 84. — European Hedgehog. 

insects, fruits, and roots. In cold climates they sleep all 
winter. They live in the Old World and are all small, 
the European Hedgehog being about ten inches long. 
The so-called American Hedgehog is a Porcupine. 

Gnawers, or Rodents. 



The Rodents are readily known by their teeth. In 
each jaw they have the two front ones chisel-shaped, 



GNAWERS. 



61 



and between these and the grinders there is a wide 
space without teeth. The cutting teeth have the 
hard enamel only on the front of the 
tooth ; thus they wear in such a man- 
ner that the more they are used the 
sharper they become, and they grow 
at the base as fast as they wear away 
at the top. Hundreds of Rodents are Fig. 85. — Skull of 
known, most of which are small. a Rodent. 

The Rodents include the Squirrels, Gophers, Wood- 
chucks, Rats and Mice, Porcupines, Hares, etc. 




Squirrels. 



Squirrels are small and very pretty animals, 
large bright eyes, long ears, divided upper lip, and 
bushy tail. They are lightly 
built, agile, and live in trees, 
feeding upon fruits and nuts. 
There are about one hundred 
kinds in North America, many 
new kinds having recently 
been discovered. The most 
prominent are the large Fox 
Squirrels of the Middle, South- 
ern, and Western States, and 
the well-known Gray, Red, 
and Flying Squirrels found 
over a large part of the United 
States. The Gray Squirrels are 
noted for their occasional ex- 
tensive migrations. Assemb- 
ling in large numbers, they cross the country, swim 



with 
long 




Fig. 86. — Gray Squi 



rrel. 
ming 



62 VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 

rivers, and turning aside for no obstacle. Gray squirrels 
occur of every shade from gray to jet black. 

The Red Squirrel is seen at all seasons and in all 
weathers. In the northern forests, the deepest snows 
of winter are soon covered with its tracks, and pene- 
trated by holes bored to find the cones of spruce 
and pine, and the nuts scattered or hidden beneath. 
It often sits for hours upon a stump or limb of a tree, 
and, holding a cone or nut in its fore paws, gnaws it 
briskly till it gets all the food it contains. If disturbed 
while upon the ground, this squirrel runs up the nearest 
tree, leaping from branch to branch, and tree to tree, 
soon passing out of sight. Sometimes, when startled, 
it commences chattering with great fury, and leaping 
about as if in defiance of the intruder. 

The Flying Squirrels have a thin skin, or membrane, 
covered with fur, which extends along the sides of the 
body between the fore and hind legs, and which, when 
spread out, serves as a support in leaping from tree to 
tree, and enables them to perform a sort of flight. They 
are nocturnal, and therefore not 
often seen. Their nests are made 
in the hollows of trees, where 
large companies often live to- 
gether. The Common Flying 
Squirrel of the United States is 

^^il^gisr about five inches loner, an d the 

Fig. 87.— Flying Squirrel. . to . 

fur is soft, silky, and yellowish 

brown. It is quite easily tamed, and, being gentle and 

very beautiful, makes a pleasant pet. 

The Striped Squirrels have cheek-pouches, in which 

they carry grain and nuts to their holes, and they have 

a shorter and less bushy tail than the others. The 




GNAWERS. 



Common Striped Squirrel, or Chipmunk, is about five 
inches long to the tail, and the color is yellowish gray 
with five black stripes on the back and sides. In au- 




Fig. 8S. — Striped Squirrel, or Chipmunk. 

tumn the Chipmunks may be seen with their cheek- 
pouches full of nuts or grain, which they store up for 
winter, at which time they remain in their holes. 

Gophers. 

The Striped Gopher, of Michigan and westward, is a 
very beautiful animal, about the size of the Red Squir- 
rel, of a dark brown color, with light lines and rows of 
light spots. It lives in burrows, and when alarmed pops 
into its hole with a chirp. The Prairie Dog is larger 
than the Striped Gopher, appearing somewhat like a 
small Woodchuck. It utters a sharp chirp, called bark- 





Fig. 90. — Prairie Do; 



6\ VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 

ing; hence its name. It lives in burrows, and large 
numbers are found together, forming communities 
called dog towns. Before each hole is a little hill of 
earth, upon which the Prairie Dog sits on the lookout 
for intruders. At the slightest alarm it dives into its 
hole, but soon reappears. Their holes are also the home 
of the Burrowing Owls and Rattlesnakes. 

The Pocket Gopher, Pouched Rat, or Geomys, of the 
prairies of the Western States, is nine or ten inches 
long, with large front teeth, strong fore feet, and a short 
tail. Opening on the outside of the mouth are large 




Fig. gr. — Pocket Gopher. 

cheek-pouches, which reach back even to the shoulders; 
and these pouches are lined with fur, and are entirely 
different from the much smaller cheek-pouches of the 
Striped Gopher, which open within the mouth. The 
Pocket Gopher throws up a mound of earth which, in 
some instances, is ten feet in diameter, and two feet 
high; and within this mound is its nest, where it rears 
its young. From the mound it digs numerous gal- 
leries in different directions, one or two feet below the 
surface of the ground. It uses its curious pouches for 
carrying food, and for carrying away the earth which 
it removes in digging its galleries. Coming to the sur- 
face with its pouches full of earth, it empties them so 
quickly as to puzzle the looker-on, and instantly re- 
treats into its hole. Pocket Gophers feed mainly upon 



GNAWERS. 65 

the roots of plants. They are savage and offer battle 
to man. If two are placed together, they instantly 
attack each other, and the stronger eats up the weaker. 

Beavers. 

Beavers are about three feet long to the tail, and are 
the largest of the Rodents, excepting an animal called 
the Capybara which lives about the rivers of South 
America. Beavers have a flat, scaly tail, and are wholly 
aquatic in their habits. Their food is chiefly bark 
and aquatic plants. Their teeth are very sharp and 




Fig. 92 — American Beaver. 

powerful, enabling them to gnaw down trees of the 
hardest wood. Beavers prefer running water, that the 
wood which they cut may be carried to the desired 
spot. They keep the water at a given height by dams, 
built of trees and branches mixed with stones and 
mud; winter houses are built of the same materials. 
Each house consists of two stories ; the upper is above 
water and dry, and serves as a shelter; the lower is be- 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 5 



66 VERTEBRATES: MAMMALS. 

neath the water, and contains stores of barks and roots ; 
the only opening is beneath the water. The Beaver 
is reddish-brown ; the fur is soft and fine. It lives in 
unsettled parts of North America, but is nearly extinct. 

Rats and Mice. 

There are more than three hundred kinds of these 
animals, all of which are small. More than one hun- 
dred and fifty kinds inhabit North America. They 
devour all sorts of edible substances, animal as well as 
vegetable, and some even attack living animals. 

The' largest, except the Muskrat, is the Norway, 
Brown, or Wharf Rat, originally from Asia, but now 
exceedingly abundant in Europe and in this country. 




Fig. 93. — White-footed Mouse. 

The Black Rat, which was introduced into this coun- 
try from Europe more than three hundred years ago, 
is nearly as large as the Brown, and was formerly the 
most common large Rat in stores, houses, barns, and 
other buildings, but has now nearly disappeared before 
its more powerful rival, the Brown Rat, which pursues, 
captures and devours it. If a rat gets wounded, his 
companions, instead of aiding him, fall upon and 
devour him. The Roof Rat, of the Southern States, 
originally from Egypt, where it lives in the thatched 
roofs of the houses; the House Mouse, originally from 
Asia, but now found in all countries ; the Harvest 



GNAWERS. 



6/ 



Mouse, the White-footed Mouse, the Field Mouse, and 
the Jumping Mouse, are other kinds which are found in 
the United States, but which cannot be described here 
for want of room. For further description, see Tenney's 
Manual of Zoology. The Jumping Mouse, however, is 
too interesting to be omitted. It is found over a large 
part of North America, and is about three inches long 
to the tail, which, in some instances, is even six inches 
in length. Its color is yellowish-brown, lined with 




Fig. 94. — American Jumping Mouse. 

black, the lower parts white. It moves by very long 
and rapid leaps. It is found in the meadows and 
grain-fields. 

The Muskrat, mentioned above, is very common 
about ponds, rivers, and brooks in North America. It 
is a foot long, besides the tail, which is about as long 
as the body, and the color is dark brown above and 
rusty brown below. The fur is now sold under the 
name of river sable. Muskrats build winter houses of 
mud, sticks, and grass, the entrance being beneath the 
water, and leading to a dry apartment above. 

Porcupines. 

Porcupines are distinguished from all other Rodents 
by their spines, or quills, which are very sharp. The 
North American Porcupine is about two feet long, 



68 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



brown in color, with long white-tipped hairs, and has 
the tail and upper parts covered with white spines. It 
lives in hollow trees and in holes among the rocks, and 
readily climbs trees. It eats bark, leaves, and green 
corn. It is often called the Hedgehog, but is a very 
different animal from the true Hedgehog (p. 60). See 
Figure 95. The Crested Porcupine, of Southern Eu- 
rope, has quills nearly a foot long. 




Fig. 95. — American Porcupine. 



Hares. 

Hares are found in nearly all countries. In America 
there are about thirty kinds. They are timid, and 
have a habit of stamping with the hind feet when 
alarmed. The Common Hare, or White Rabbit, about 
twenty inches long, is brown in summer, and white in 
winter. It lives in the thick swamps, rarely enters 
holes when pursued, but depends for safety upon its 



TOOTHLESS MAMMALS : MARSUPIALS. 69 

fleetness. It always follows the same paths. The Gray 
Rabbit is smaller and does not turn white in winter. 

Toothless Mammals, or Edentates. 

The Edentates are Sloths, Armadillos, and Ant-eaters. 
Some of these animals have no teeth, and others are 
only destitute of front teeth. Many of them have a 
bony or scaly covering. They live in warm countries. 

Armadillos. 

The word Armadillo means clad in armor, and is 
given to these animals on account of their bony or 
horny covering. They live mainly in the warm and 




Fig. 96. — Nine-banded Armadillo. 

hot parts of South America, dig burrows, and feed 
upon vegetables, carrion, insects, and worms. The 
Nine-banded Armadillo is about two feet long, and is 
found as far north as Texas. 

Marsupials. 

The Marsupials have a pouch, or sack, beneath the 
body, in which the young are kept for a time after they 
are born; even after they are able to walk they re- 
sort to the pouch of the mother when danger is near. 
With the exception of the Opossums of America, all 
the Marsupials are in Australia and adjacent islands. 



?o 



VERTEBRATES : MAMMALS. 



Opossums. 

Opossums are small animals, the largest being 
scarcely larger than the Common Cat, and the smallest 
but little larger than a Mouse. They 
feed upon birds, bird's eggs, insects, 
and other small animals. The tail 
is long and is capable of being 
twisted around objects, thus aiding 
in climbing. The Opossum of the 
|£& United States is about the size of a 
jS Cat, the hair whitish with brown tips. 
It often lies motionless for hours in 
the warm sunshine. When slightly 
wounded it has the habit of feigning 
itself dead, or " playing 'possum," 
and often escapes from the inexperienced hunter. 




Fig- 97- — Opossum. 



Kangaroos. 

Kangaroos are Marsupials which are remarkable for 
the great development of their hinder parts, — the hind 




'BSfgi 



Fig. 9S. — Kangaroo. 



MONOTREMES. 



71 



legs and tail being very long and powerful, and the fore 
legs very short, weak, and but little used in locomotion, 
which is accomplished by leaps of enormous extent. 
They live in troops, feed upon vegetation, and are harm- 
less and easily tamed. They vary in size from that of 
a Rabbit to that of a Deer. 





Fig. 99. — Wombat. Fig. 100. — Skull of Wombat. 

The Wombat is a curious Australian animal, three feet 
long. Its habits are not unlike those of the Wood- 
chuck : it feeds upon grass, and burrows in the ground. 



MONOTREMES. 

These are animals which vary much from all other 
Mammals, having their organic structure in some re- 
spects much like that of Birds. They belong to Aus- 
tralia and adjacent islands. One of the most interesting 




Fig. 101. — Duckbill, or Platypus. 

kinds is called the Duckbill, or sometimes Platypus. 
Its muzzle is flat and appears very much like that of a 
Duck, its legs are short, its feet webbed, and its body is 



72 VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 

covered with short, brown fur. It is less than two feet 
long, lives about ponds and streams, and digs burrows 
in the banks. Its young are born from eggs which 
it lays in its burrows. The only other member of 
this group, the Spiny Ant-eater of New Guinea, lays 
an egg which it carries in its pouch until hatched. 



BIRDS. 

Of all animals, perhaps, none are more interesting to 
both young and old than Birds. Their presence in the 
fields and hedges, the groves and forests, their beau- 
tiful and splendid colors, their sweet songs, and their 
curious and wonderful habits, charm and delight all. 

Birds are egg-laying vertebrates which are covered 
with feathers, furnished with a bill, and fitted for 
flight, — their form as well as their structure being 
adapted for easy and rapid movement through the 



Occiput 
Ear region 
Nape 




Crown. 

Forehead. 
Nostril. 
Mandi- 
ble. 
Throat. 

Fore neck. 

Smaller 
coverts. 
Breast. 
Mid. coverts. 
Large " 

Belly. 
Tibia, or leg. 

Tarsus, or in- 
step. 

Interior toe. 
Middle 
Exterior " 



Fig. 102. — Showing the names of some of the principal parts of a Bird. 



BIRDS. 



73 



air; even their bones are hollow, hence very light in 
proportion to their size. The general form of a Bird, 
and the names of some of the principal external parts, 
are shown in Figure 102. The skeleton and the names 
of its principal parts are shown in Figure 103. It is 
an interesting fact that the form and the skeleton of a 
bird suggested the right way in which to build a ship 
in order to combine strength with swiftness. 

Although the body of Birds is covered with feathers, 
these do not grow from the whole surface, but are ar- 
ranged in rows and patches, with bare spaces between. 
Feathers are made up of a hard central portion, or shaft, 

h 




Fig. 103. — Skeleton of a Bird. 

k, head; nv, neck vertebrae; c, wrist; tk, thumb; mc^ metacarpus, or hand; />/t, 
phalanges, or fingers; r, radius; w, ulna; /*, humerus; sc, scapula, or shoulder- 
blade; <rrf, corocoid bone; cc\ clavicle, or " wish bone "; st, breastbone, or sternum; 
fe, femur, or thigh bone ; /, pelvis; ft % fibula and tibia united; t, tibia, or leg; ts, 
tarsus, or instep: />s, phalanges, or toes. 



74 VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 

and vane on each side, the latter being the broad portion 
which consists of delicate plates that are united by- 
minute barbs along their edges, and thus made firm, — 
the plates not separating from one another when pressed 
against the air, as in flying. There are, however, downy 
feathers on every Bird, or such as do not have the plates 
united. The plumage of Birds is made waterproof by 
the oil with which they dress their feathers, and which 
is obtained from a gland situated on the tail. They 
shed their feathers twice a year, and in many kinds the 
winter plumage differs in color from that of the sum- 
mer. In most Birds the colors of the male are much 
more brilliant than those of the female. 

Birds swallow their food without chewing it, and it is 
first received into a sack called the crop ; then it passes 
into another sack, where it is moistened and softened ; 
then it passes to the gizzard, where it is digested. In 
seed-eating Birds, the gizzard contains gravel and other 
hard substances, which these animals swallow to aid 
the gizzard in grinding the seeds. 

Birds lay eggs and sit upon them to hatch them, and 
most Birds build nests in which to rear their young, 
those of the same kind building alike. The young 
Bird in the Ggg has a horny point at the end of the bill, 
with which it breaks the shell. This point is plainly 
seen on the bill of the newly-hatched chicken ; in a few 
days it falls off. 

The number of kinds of Birds is about ten thousand, 
and there are about seven hundred kinds in North 
America. Birds of Prey, the Climbers, the Perchers, 
the Scratchers, the Runners, the Waders, and the 
Swimmers are the large groups into which Birds are 
divided. 



BIRDS OF PREY. 



75 



Birds of Prey, or Raptores. 

These are the Vultures, Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, and 
Owls. Most of them capture birds and other animals 
for food. They are mostly of large size, and have a 
strong hooked bill, sharp claws, great spread of wing, 
and very powerful muscles, and the females are gene- 
rally larger than the males. They live in pairs, and 
choose their mates for life. 




Fig. 104. — California Vulture. 



76 VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 

Vultures. 

Vultures have the head nearly naked or thinly cov- 
ered with feathers, and, unlike the other rapacious 
Birds, seldom capture prey, but feed upon carrion, 
which they trace by sight at great distances. They 
make no nest, but deposit their eggs on the ground or 
naked rock. There are three or four kinds in the United 
States. The Condor of the Andes and the Lammer- 
geyer of the Alps are Vultures of the largest kind. 
The latter attacks lambs, goats, and the chamois. The 
California Vulture is the largest Bird of Prey in North 
America, being as large as the largest Turkey ; the color 
is black, the head orange and red. See Figure 104. 

Falcons, Hawks, and Eagles. 

These Birds have the head clothed with feathers, and 
their talons are very sharp. Their flight is rapid, and 
they attack their prey with great ferocity, capturing 
chickens, ducks, grouse, quails, hares, rabbits, squirrels, 
and other small animals. The species are numerous, 
about seventy kinds of Eagles being known, and more 
than thirty kinds of Falcons and Hawks inhabiting 
North America. The true Falcons have a distinct 
tooth in the upper mandible, as seen in Figure 105. 




Fig. 105. — American Peregrine Falcon, or Duck Hawk. 



BIRDS OF PREY. 



77 




73 



VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 



The Peregrine Falcon, or Duck Hawk, of North 
America, pursues its prey with almost inconceivable 
velocity through all its turnings and windings, and 
when within a few feet, protrudes its talons, grasps the 
prize, and bears it away to some secluded place and 
devours it. Sometimes it sweeps over the water and 
catches up ducks and other swimming birds. This 
Falcon is about a foot and a half in length. The Pere- 
grine Falcon of Europe, very much like this species, 
was formerly much used in falconry, a fashionable 
sport of kings, nobles, and fair ladies. 

The Sparrow Hawk, of Amer- 
ica, is the smallest of the Hawks, 
being but little larger than the 
common Robin. It preys upon 
small birds, mice and insects. 
It becomes attached to a parti- 
cular locality, and may be seen 
day after day on the same tree or 
stump watching for prey. 

The Bald, or White-headed, 
Eagle, of North America, is found 
along the seacoasts, lakes and rivers, and usually 
makes its nest on some tall tree. Although called 
bald, its head is clothed with white feathers. Its prin- 
cipal food is fish, which it obtains mainly by robbing 
the Osprey, or Fishhawk. Seated on a dead limb of 
a large tree that commands a view of the waters, it 
watches the Fishhawk as he descends and plunges 
into the deep, and, as he emerges with his prey and 
rises into the air, the Eagle gives chase ; each moves 
with its utmost speed, but the Eagle rapidly gains, and 
as it is about to reach the Hawk, the latter drops the 




Fig. 107 — Spanow Hawk. 



BIRDS OF PREY. 



79 



Fish ; the Eagle sweeps downward, snatches it before 
it reaches the water, and bears it away to the woods. 

Owls. 

Owls are Birds of Prey which, in most cases, are 
active by night, and rest during the day. Their large 
head, large staring eyes, and the tufts of feathers 
resembling ears, which many of them have, give to the 




Fig. 108. — Great Horned Owl. 
face a strange, catlike expression. Their plumage is 
soft and loose, and their flight is almost noiseless. 
They prey upon birds, hares, squirrels, mice, and in- 
sects. There are about forty kinds of Owls in Amer- 
ica, greatly varying in size. The Great Horned Owl has 
large ear-tufts like horns ; the Screech Owl is small, and 



8o 



VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 



is noted for its tremulous, doleful notes ; the Long- 
eared Owl has very long ear-tufts, and its cry is pro- 
longed and plaintive, consisting of two or three notes 
repeated at intervals ; the Gray Owls are very large ; 
the Saw-whet Owl is small, and its notes sound like 




Fig. 109. — Snowy Owl. 

the noise made in filing a saw ; the Burrowing Owls 
are very small, and live in the burrows of the Prairie 
Dog. The Snowy Owl is large, and hunts in the day- 
time as well as at twilight ; it lives in the cold regions, 
and is seen in the United States only in winter. 

Climbers, or Scansores. 

Climbers have two toes in front and two behind. 
Parrots, Cuckoos, and Woodpeckers are the chief kinds. 



CLIMBERS. 



81 



Parrots. 

Parrots have a stout, thick bill, hooked at the tip. 
Many of them are adorned with the most gorgeous 
colored plumage ; and this, together with the ease with 
which many of them are trained to speak, has made 
them objects of great interest. They live in the warm 
regions. 




Fig. no. — Carolina Parrot 



The Carolina Parrot of the Southern States, about 
as large as a Dove, is our only species. 

Cuckoos. 

The Cuckoos of the United States are about a foot 
long, with the upper parts of a metallic olive-green 
color, and the under parts white. They are shy, con- 
cealing themselves in the thick foliage of trees, where 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 6 



82 



VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 



they sit for hours uttering their unpleasant notes, 
which sound like coiv-cow, eight or ten times repeated. 




Fig. in. — Cuckoo. 

They feed upon insects, and also eggs, which they 
steal from the nests of other birds. 



Woodpeckers. 




Fig. 112. — Red-headed 
Woodpecker. 



straight, 



These Birds have a 
sharp bill, with which they cut into 
bark or wood in search of insects. 
The tongue is very long and capa- 
ble of being greatly extended, and 
is armed towards the tip with 
barbs. With this they secure the 
insects. Twenty or thirty kinds 
are found in North America, vary- 
ing in size from the Sparrow to 
the Crow. They build their nests 
in holes, made with their bills in 
the trunks or branches of trees. 



CLIMBERS. 83 

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker, of the Southern States, 
is the largest, and has the body black with white upon 
the wings and neck, the crest scarlet, and the bill ivory 
white. The Black Woodcock, of the Northern States, 
is smaller, greenish-black in color, with a scarlet crest. 
The Hairy and the Downy W r oodpecker, or Sapsuckers, 
are small, and black and white. The Red-headed Wood- 
pecker has the head and neck, crimson ; the back, pri- 
maries and tail, black; the rump and a band on the 
wings, w r hite. The Golden-winged Woodpecker is larger 




Fig. 113. — Golden-winged Woodpecker. 

than a Robin, and is one of our most beautiful Birds. 
On the first sunny days of spring the Woodpeckers of 
this species appear on the top of decayed trees, and 
as they hop about, striking with their bills here and 
there, make the woods resound with their loud, clear 
notes. Soon they pair, and both male and female begin 



84 VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 

to make a hole in a tree for the nest. The female lays 
from four to six white eggs twice in a season. 

Perchers, or Insessores. 

These make up a large part of the most common 
Birds, as Humming Birds, Nighthawks, Kingfishers, Fly- 
catchers, Thrushes, Warblers, Creepers, Titmice, Spar- 
rows, Grosbeaks, Larks, Blackbirds, Jays, Crows, etc. 

Humming Birds. 

These are Birds of the smallest size and of the most 
gorgeous plumage to be found in the feathered race. 
The beauty of their colors defies description ; and from 
their brilliancy they are often called " flying gems." 





Figs. 114 and 115. — Ruby- throated Humming Bird and Nest. 

There are about four hundred kinds, and they all be- 
long to the continent and islands of America, and are 
most numerous in the warm regions. Their feet are 
very small, their wings long, and their power of flight 
very great ; they can balance themselves in the air, 
or beside a flower, with perfect ease. Their food con- 
sists of insects and the honey of flowers. Their nests 
are usually made of cotton, thistle-down, delicate fibers, 
and other soft materials, woven into a cup-shaped cradle, 
and placed on a branch of a tree not many feet from 
the ground ; and the outside is covered with lichens 



TERCIIERS. 



85 



to make the nest appear like a natural growth. The 
eggs are pure white. The Ruby-throated Humming 
Bird is common throughout the United States. 

Whippoorwills and Nighthawks. 

The Chuck-will's Widow, whose curious notes are 
heard in the evening and in the early morning in the 




Fig. 116. — Whippoorwill 



Southern States, and the Whippoorwill and Nighthawk 
of the United States generally, are closely related to 




Fig. 117 



86 



VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 



each other. The last two are each about ten inches 
long, and dark, marked with white. The Chuck-will's 
Widow gets its name from its notes, which sound 
like chuck-will 's-zvidow, and the Whippoorwill from a 
resemblance of its notes to the syllables whip-poor-will, 
uttered in the evening and at dawn. They make no 
nest, but lay their eggs on the ground, or a flat rock. 

Kingfishers. 

These Birds feed upon fish, and make their nests in 
holes which they dig in the banks of ponds and streams. 
They have a long, straight bill, and short legs. The 
Belted Kingfisher, of North America, is nearly as large 




Fig. 118. — Belted Kingfisher. 

as a small Dove, the head crested, the color blue above 
and white below, with a blue belt. Sitting on a branch 



TERCHERS. 87 

or decayed tree near the water, it watches intently for 
fish ; and at the proper moment it plunges into the 
water, seizes its victim, flies to a tree, swallows the fish, 
and is immediately on the lookout for another. 

Flycatchers. 

There are about thirty kinds of these Birds in North 
America. The bill is broad and bent down at the tip, 
and the sides of the mouth have stiff bristles. The 
Kingbird, Pewees, and Great-crested Flycatcher are 
some of the most common and best known species. 
The Kingbird is somewhat smaller than a Robin, and 




g. 119. — Kingbird. 



is dark above and white below, with a hidden crest of 
orange, vermilion and white. It is common in open 
fields and orchards, where it is seen perched upon a 
stake, tall weed, or low tree, watching for insects, upon 
which it darts with sure aim. It is very courageous, 
eagerly attacking crows, hawks, and other large birds. 
The Pewee, or Phcebe Bird, is smaller than the King- 
bird, and its color is dark above and yellowish below. 



88 



VERTEBRATES: BIRDS, 



It lingers around bridges, old buildings, and caves. 
Here in some secure spot it builds its nest of mud, 
grass, and moss, with a soft lining within for the eggs, 
which are pure white with reddish spots near the larger 
end. The Wood Pewee is rather smaller than the 
Phoebe, and is found in the quiet retreats of the forest. 

Thrushes, Bluebirds, and Robins. 

The Wood Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Wilson's Thrush, 
Robin, Robin Redbreast, etc., come under this head. 

The Wood Thrush is smaller than a Robin, brownish 
above, white below, marked with triangular black spots. 





Fig. 121. — Ruby-crowned 
Wren. 



Fig. 120 — Wood Thrush. 



It is found in groves and woods, and its sweet singing 
has made it celebrated among all lovers of birds. Its 
nest and eggs much resemble those of the Robin. 

The Hermit Thrush is smaller than the Wood 
Thrush, which it somewhat resembles, but it is rather 
darker above, its breast is yellowish-white, and the dark 
spots beneath are less distinct. Its soft, liquid, plain- 
tive notes excel in sweetness those of any other Ameri- 
can Bird. It is heard in shady glens and deep woods. 

The American Robin is one of the most common of 



PERCHERS. 89 

the Thrushes, and its song in the early morning and at 
the close of the day is one of the pleasantest sounds 
that come from our groves and orchards. 

The Robin Redbreast, of Europe, is about half as 
large as our Robin, of a brown color, with a red breast. 
It is nearly related to our Bluebird. It loves to be 
near man, and often enters his dwelling. It is easily 
tamed, and is a great favorite. In severe weather it 
comes into the house, and, selecting a perch, warbles 
its song when the day is clear or when the fire burns 
brightly. 

The American Bluebird is sky-blue above; the breast 
is chestnut-colored. Its nest is usually made in a 
hollow tree or post, and its eggs are from four to six, 
pale blue. It is a loving, gentle Bird, and its soft war- 
ble is very pleasing. The Ruby-crowned Wren, which 
is now placed near the Thrushes, is scarcely more than 
four inches long, and is known by a patch of scarlet 
feathers on the crown. Its song is clear and sweet. 
The Water Ouzel, of the Rocky Mountains, is smaller 





Fig. 122 —Ouzel. Fig. 123. — Nightingale, 

than the Robin, and of a dark lead-color. This curious 
Thrush frequents mountain streams, into which it walks 
or dives, and moves about beneath the water in search 
of insects and other small animals upon which it feeds. 



9 o 



VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 

Warblers, 



Warblers are among the smallest, most beautiful, and 
interesting of singing Birds. Many kinds are generally 
found in the same locality, and may be seen gliding 
among the thick foliage, busily engaged in catching 
minute insects which hide beneath the leaves and in 
the buds and blossoms, and which often escape the 
sight of other and larger Birds. Some of the Warblers 
are the sweetest of songsters, as the celebrated Night- 
ingale of Europe, shown in Figure 123. More than 
fifty kinds are found in the United States ; their very 
names are beautiful and suggestive. Some of the 
more common are the Maryland Yellowthroat, the 





Fig. 124. — Maryland Yellow- 
throat. 



Fig. 125. — Blackburnian 
Warbler. 



Blue-winged Yellow Warbler, the Golden-winged War- 
bler, the Orange-crowned Warbler, the Golden-crowned 
Warbler or Thrush, the Black-throated Green Warbler, 
the Yellow-rump Warbler, the Bay-breasted Warbler, 
the Chestnut-sided Warbler, the Blue Warbler, the 
Blackpoll Warbler, the Yellow Warbler, the Black 
and Yellow Warbler, the Yellow Redpoll, the Yellow- 
throated Warbler, the Blackburnian Warbler, etc. 

Swallows. 

These beautiful Birds have long wings, short legs, 
and short, wide bill, and they spend much of their time 



PERCHERS. 91 

upon the wing, skimming over fields and ponds, catch- 
ing small insects, which constitute their food. One 
kind builds its nest upon the rafters in the barn, and 
is called the Barn Swallow ; another builds its nest 
under the eaves, and is called the Eave Swallow ; 
another under cliffs, and is called the Cliff Swallow ; 
another digs a hole in a sandbank for its nest, and is 
called the Bank Swallow ; and the Purple Martin comes 
and makes its nest in the martin houses placed for it 
near our dwellings. Some persons suppose that these 
birds, requiring air and sunshine as much as we do, 
spend the winter in the mud at the bottom of ponds. 

Shrikes and Vireos. 

The Shrike, or Butcher Bird, is about as large as a 
Robin, of a bluish color, with black wings and tail. 
Although belonging to the song-birds, it is a hawk in 




Fig. 126. — Shrike, or Butcher Bird. 

its disposition, preying upon sparrows, warblers, and 
other small birds, as well as upon insects. It often 
imitates the cries of other birds, perhaps to call them 
from the trees and bushes, that it may get a chance 
to seize one of their number. It is called Butcher 
Bird from its habit of impaling or hanging up its prey 



92 



VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 



upon thorns and other sharp points, as a butcher hangs 
meats upon hooks in his stall. It builds a large nest 
of twigs, grass, and moss, in the forks of a tree. 

The Vireos are much smaller 
than the Shrike, and mostly 
olive-green above and light be- 
low. The Red-eyed Vireo has 
the iris of the eye red. Its 
loud, clear notes are heard in 
the tree-tops from spring till 
late in autumn. The White- 
eyed ana the Warbling Vireo are small, and their notes 
are very pleasant. 




127. — Warbling Vireo. 



Mocking Birds, etc. 

These Birds are closely related to the Thrushes, and 
are very sweet singers. The Mocking Bird of the 
Southern States is about the size of the Robin, with a 




Fiff. 12S. — Mocking Bird. 



very long tail, and the color is ashy. It sings with 
great sweetness, and readily imitates the songs of all 
the birds which it hears. It is a very common pet in 



PERCHERS. 93 

The Catbird of the Northern States is smaller than 
the Robin, and of a dark color, and in spring and the 
early part of summer its song is very mellow and sweet. 
Like its relative, it easily imitates the notes of other 
birds, and may be properly called the Mocking Bird of 
the North. President HilJ, of Harvard College, states 
that, having whistled a strain of Yankee Doodle two 
or three times in the presence of this bird, it imitated 
him perfectly. In the latter part of summer its notes 
are harsh and disagreeable, sounding like a cat's yawl. 

Wrens are small Birds about the size of the War- 
blers. The Carolina Wren is one of the largest. It is 
reddish-brown. The House Wren 
delights in being near the habita- 
tions of man, and often makes 
its nest in a hole in the timbers 
or walls. The Winter Wren is 
one of the smallest, and of a 
brownish color. It is very ac- 
tive, and may be seen in twenty 
attitudes in a minute. Fig. 129. —Winter Wren. 

Creepers, Nuthatches, and Chickadees. 

Creepers and Nuthatches are very small Birds, which 
may be seen in North America at all seasons of the 
year, running along the trunks and branches of trees, 
and looking, at a little distance, much like little Wood- 
peckers. The American Creeper is light brown, with 
lighter streaks. The White-bellied Nuthatch is blue, 
with the under parts white, and the top of the head and 
neck black. The Red-bellied Nuthatch is a smaller spe- 
cies, and has the under parts red. Both kinds attach 




94 



VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 



their feet to the bark, and creep with their heads down- 
ward. The Chickadee is one of our smallest birds, and 
sings its simple cJiickadce-dce-dcc in winter as well as in 

k a 






Fig. 131. — Chick- Fig. 132. — White-bellied Nut- 
adee, or Titmouse. hatch. 

Fig. 130. — Amer- 
ican Creeper. 

summer, and in all sorts of weather. It is ashy above, 
whitish below, the top of the head and throat black. 

Skylarks. 

The Skylark, or Shore Lark is the only Bird of its 
family in North America. It is smaller than the Robin, 
and sings sweetly while on the wing, but its song is 




Fig. 133. —American Skylark. 



PERCHERS. 95 

short. The Skylark of Europe is almost as celebrated 
for its song as the Nightingale. It often rises vertically 
to a great height, and when rising or falling it sings its 
varied and powerful song. 

Finches, Crossbills, Buntings, Sparrows, and Grosbeaks. 

The Purple Finch is about as large as the Bluebird, 
and of a beautiful crimson color; the female brown 
above and white below streaked with brown. The nest 
is built in a tree close to the ground, and the eggs are 
four, of a rich green color. The Yellowbird, or Amer- 








Fig. 134. — Purple Finch. Fig. 135. — White-winged Crossbill. 

ican Goldfinch, is of a beautiful yellow, the crown and 
wings black, tail and wings marked with white. The 
nest is very handsome, made of lichens, and fastened 
to a twig ; eggs white, with a bluish tinge, and spotted 
with brown at the larger end. 

Crossbills have the points of the bill much curved 
and crossing each other. By means of this curious 
instrument they can open the cones of pine and spruce 
with great facility, and thus secure the seeds, upon 
which they feed. Crossbills are about as large as the 



9 6 



VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 



,4$S&' 




Fig. 136. — Song Sparrow 



Bluebird ; and there are two species in North America, 
— the Red Crossbill and the White-winged Crossbill, 
the latter having white bands upon the wings. 

Sparrows are plain-colored 
birds, generally dull brown, 
variously striped and marked, 
and are the most common 
in open fields, orchards, and 
about low bushes. There 
are many kinds in North 
America, all of which are 
small, the largest scarcely 
equalling the common Bluebird in size. Some of the 
principal kinds are the Bay-winged Bunting, the Yel- 
low-winged Sparrow, the White-crowned Sparrow, the 
White-throated Sparrow, the Black Snowbird, the 
Tree Sparrow, the Chipping Sparrow, the Song Spar- 
row, the Swamp Sparrow, the Fox-colored Sparrow, etc. 

The Grosbeaks have the bill 
very large, and hence their name, 
which means great beak. The 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak is one of 
the most beautiful of the North 
American birds. It is smaller than 
a Robin, and the color is black and 
white, the breast a rich carmine. 
The female has no black or car- 
mine. The song is loud, clear, 
and sweet. 

The Ground Robin, Towhee 
Bunting, or Chewink, is about two 
thirds as large as a Robin, the Ficy _ 
color black and white. The fe- breasted Grosbeak. 




PERCHER5. 



9/ 




Fig. 138. — Chewink. 



male is brown and white. It is seen almost everywhere, 
in low bushes, in fields, or by the wayside, and is easily 
found by its sweet che- 
wink, uttered every 
few moments. Of- 
ten near the close 
of day in spring, it 
mounts the top of a 
small tree, and sings 
with charming sweet- 
ness. It makes its nest upon the ground, laying from 
four to six eggs of a light color with dark spots. 

Blackbirds, Larks, etc. 

The Bobolink, Cowbird, Blackbirds, Larks, and Ori- 
oles belong to one family. The Bobolink is somewhat 

larger than a Bluebird, 
of a black and cream 
color, the female yellow- 
ish brown. Its jingling 
song, uttered from a low 
tree, or bush, or tall 
weed, or upon the wing, 
is familiar to all who live 
in the country. Late in 
the summer Bobolinks 
fly southward, and are 
seen in immense flocks 
in grain fields and along 
the margins of creeks and rivers, where the tops of the 
reeds are bent with ripe seeds. Thousands are shot 
by the hunters and sold in the markets, where they 
are called Reedbirds. 




Fig. 139. — Bobolink, or Reedbird. 



NAT. HIST. AX.- 



9 8 



VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 



The Cowbird is larger than the Bobolink, and is the 
most singular bird in North America. For some reason 
which is not understood it never makes a nest, but, like 
the European Cuckoo, stealthily lays its eggs, only one 
in a place, in the nests of Warblers, Flycatchers, Blue- 
birds, Sparrows, and the Golden-crowned Thrush. The 
egg is grayish blue marked with brown dots and short 
streaks. And it is a curious fact that this egg hatches 
before the eggs of the bird in whose nest it is laid. As 
soon as the young Cowbird is hatched, the foster 
parents leave their own eggs to get food for it, and 
hence the young in their eggs die, and the eggs are 
soon thrown from the nest. Then the young Cowbird 
receives the whole attention of those that have been 
compelled to adopt it, and they feed it till long after 
it can fly, and until it is larger than the foster parents 
themselves. The head and neck of the Cowbird is of 
a chocolate color, the rest of the body lustrous black; 
the female is light brown. 

The Red-winged Blackbird is nearly as large as the 
Robin, shining black, with the shoulder and a part of the 
crimson. The female is of a dusky color. 

It is common 
about ponds 
and marshes, 
and builds its 
nest in low 
bushes or tufts 
of sedges. 

The Meadow 
Lark is rather 



wing bright 




Fig. 140. — Meadow Lark. 
Robin ; the upper parts brown and brownish white, the 



larger than the 



PERCHERS. 



99 



under parts yellow, with a black crescent upon the 
breast. The nest is built at the foot of a tuft of grass, 
and is covered over, except the entrance. 

The Baltimore Oriole, or Golden Robin, is as large 
as a Sparrow, the color black and orange-red, and is 
one of the most beautiful Birds in the United States. 
Its song is loud, full, and mellow. Its hanging nest, 
often made from the silkweed, is woven to the outer- 
drooping twigs of trees. 

Crows, Ravens, Jays, and Magpies. 

These are rather large Birds. The Raven is the 
largest. It is but seldom seen east of the Mississippi. 
The Crow is well known, and farmers re- 
gard it as their enemy, because it pulls up 
the young corn ; but it does much more 
good than harm, by destroying a great 
number of grubs, which would injure the 
crops. The Blue Jay is a bird of won- 
derful beauty, but its notes are harsh, 
it eats the eggs of other birds, and even 
destroys young birds, swallowing them 
greedily. The Mag- 
pie is about as large 
as a Dove, black and 
white, and the tail 
is very long. There 
are two kinds in 
North America, and 
one in Europe. It 
is a noisy bird, and 
it can be taught to 
speak. Fig. 141. — Magpie. 




IOO 



VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 



SCRATCHERS, OR RASORES. 

Doves, Wild Pigeons, Turkeys, Hens, Grouse, Pheas- 
ants, and Quails are the principal Rasores. Most of 
them live mainly upon the ground, and all feed upon 
seeds, grain, nuts, and berries. The Rasores furnish 
man with some of his choicest food. Excepting the 
Doves and Pigeons, they can run as soon as hatched. 

Pigeons. 

The Wild Pigeon of North America is about as large 
as a Dove, and has a very long tail. The color above is 




Fig. 142. — Wild Pigeon. 

blue, under parts reddish, and the neck glossy, golden- 
violet. It flies very rapidly, and millions used to be 
seen, moving together, darkening the air like a cloud. 
On alighting, they would fill forests, and even break 
down large trees by their weight. They are now 
found only in small numbers. 



SCRATCHERS. 



101 



Grouse. 

The Prairie Chicken, Ruffed Grouse, Ptarmigans, 
etc., come under this head. 

The Prairie Chicken is about as large as a common 
Hen, and the male has an air sack on each side of the 
neck by which it is able to produce a loud booming 
sound. The Ruffed Grouse, or Partridge, of the United 
States is rather smaller than the common Hen, and has 
a beautifully barred and spotted plumage. This Bird 
prefers open woods and the borders of forests, and in 




Fig. 143. — Ruffed Grouse. 

winter thickets of evergreens. When disturbed it takes 
wing with a loud whir. In the spring the male, while 
standing upon an old log, makes a loud sound with his 
wings, which is called drumming. The female makes 



102 



VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 



her nest of leaves upon the ground, and lays a dozen 
or more dingy-white eggs. 




Fig. 144. — Quail. 
Quails. 
These Birds are much smaller than the Grouse. The 
Quail has a body about as large as a Pigeon, and its 




Fig. 145. — Mountain Quail. 



RUNNERS: WADERS. 103 

color is reddish-brown. In the south it is called the 
Partridee. Its notes are a sort of whistle. The nest 
is built near a tuft of grass, and the eggs are from ten 
to eighteen, pure white. The Mountain Quail is found 
in Oregon and California. 

Runners, or Cursores. 

These are the Ostriches and their relations. They 
are very large Birds with long legs and rudimentary 
wings. The Camel Bird, or great Ostrich of the deserts 
of Africa and Asia, is about eight feet high, and has 
only two toes to each foot. The Rhea is a three-toed 
Ostrich of South America. The Cassowaries are three- 
toed Ostriches which inhabit the Indian Archipelago 
and Australia. The Apteryx is a small ostrich-like 
bird of New Zealand. Gigantic birds of this group, 
now extinct, lived in Madagascar and New Zealand. 

Waders, or Grallatores. 

The Waders have a long bill, long neck, and long legs. 
They are the Cranes, Herons, Ibises, Plovers, Turn- 
stones, Stilts, Woodcocks, Snipes, Yellowlegs, Godwits, 
Curlews, Rails, and Gallinules. They live mainly upon 
marshes or shores, are adapted by their long legs for 
wading, and feed upon worms, shellfish, etc. Figures 
146-158 show some common kinds. 

Herons. 

The Great Blue Heron, of North America, frequents 
ponds and creeks, where it may be seen standing for 
hours, upon a rock or stump, watching for fish. When 
wounded it is dangerous to approach it, as it strikes 



io4 



VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 



with its bill, and generally aims at the eye. This 
Heron is four feet long. It builds its nest on a large 
tree, in a dense swamp. 




Fig. 146. — Great Blue Heron. 



WADERS. I05 

The Bittern, or Stake-driver, and the Night Heron 




Fig. 147. — Bittern, or Stake-driver. 



with its long, white plumes, are much smaller species. 

Ibises. 

The Wood Ibis is nearly as large as the Great Blue 




Fig. 148. —Wood Ibis. 



io6 



VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 





Fig. 149. — Plover. 



Fig. 150. — Turnstone. 




Fig. 151. — Yellowlegs. Fig. 152. — American Woodcock. 




Fig- 153- —Wilson's Snipe. 



Fig. 154. — Stilt. 



WADERS. 



IO7 




Fig. 155. — Godwit. 




Fig. 156 — Curler 




Fig. 157- — Rail 



Fig. 158. — Gallinule. 



108 VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 

Heron, and lives in the swamps of the Southern States. 
In order to obtain food, it moves about in the shallow 
waters until these become muddy, when the fishes rise 
to the surface, and are struck and killed by its bill 

Swimmers, or Natatores. 

These Birds are fitted to live in and about the water. 
Their feet are webbed, and the plumage is thick and 
made waterproof by the oil with which they dress it. 
They swim easily, and most of them are expert divers. 
Swans, Geese, Ducks, Pelicans, Petrels, Gulls, Divers, 
Auks, and their relatives, belong in this group. 

Swans, Geese, and Ducks. 

The Swans have the neck very long, and they are 
much larger than the largest Goose. There are two 
species in North America, — the American Swan and 
the Trumpeter, both pure white. 

The Wild Goose is larger than the Common Goose, 
of a brownish color, with black head, neck, bill, feet, 
and tail. Wild Geese are seen in early spring in large 
flocks, moving northward, where they rear their young, 
returning south in autumn. The peculiar noise made 
by a flock as they pass over is familiar to all. They 
are sometimes tamed, but often manifest a desire to 
join the migrating flocks. A wild goose was kept all 
winter with a flock of common geese. The following 
spring it joined a party of its own kind which was pass- 
ing over. The next autumn, as a flock of wild geese 
was returning southward, three of the number sepa- 
rated from the others and alighted in the poultry yard. 



SWIMMERS. 



109 



They proved to be the long-lost goose, and two of her 
young. 

The Mallard, or Greenhead, is about two feet long, 
and has the plumage of the head bright green ; there 
is a white ring around the neck, and the general color 
of the body is brownish. This is the parent of the 
Domestic Duck. 

The Wood Duck is smaller than the Greenhead, and 
its plumage excels in beauty that of all other Ducks. 




Fig. 159. — Wood Duck. 

It builds its nest in a hollow tree or limb ; and if the 
nest is over water, the young, as soon as hatched, drop 
into it ; if not, they fall to the ground, and are led or 
carried to the water by the parent. 

The Canvasback is about the size of the Wood 
Duck, with a chestnut-colored head, and the other 
parts white and black. 

The Eider Duck is one of the largest of the Ducks; 
colors, black and white. It lives in the cold north 



no 



VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 




Fig. 160. — Canvasback. 

regions. Eider down comes from the nests ; the birds 
pluck it from their breasts to place around the eggs. 

Albatrosses and Petrels. 

The Albatrosses are the largest of web-footed Birds. 




Fig. 161. — Sooty Albatross. 



SWIMMERS. 



Ill 



The Petrels, in many cases are very small. Both live 
on the ocean, but come on shore to rear their young. 

The Stormy Petrels, or 
" Mother Carey's Chick- 
ens," are the smallest of 
web -footed birds; but 
they are able to fly about 
during the most terrific 
storms. While flying 
close to the water they 
extend their legs, and 
thus appear to walk upon 
its surface. The word Petrel means little Peter. 




Fig. 162. — Stormy Petrel. 



Gulls and Terns. 



The Gulls and Terns have long and pointed wings, 
and are common upon the shores of all countries, and 




Fig. 163. — Tern. 

also on the larger rivers and lakes. They swim well, 
but do not dive. The Gulls are generally light-colored, 
and thev vary in size from that of a Dove to that of a 



112 



VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 



Goose. The Terns have the tail very long and forked. 
They are generally light below, black and bluish above, 
and of the size of a Dove, but some are no larger than 
a Robin. They feed upon small marine animals. 

Livers. 

The Great Northern Diver, or Loon, is almost as 




Fig. 164. — Great Northern Diver, or Loon. 

large as a Goose, black above, 
beautifully spotted with white, 
and white below. It is exceed- 
ingly keen-sighted and wary, and 
it dives so quickly that, seeing the 
flash of the gun, it is often under 
water before the shot reaches it. 
Grebes are Divers which are 
smaller than the Loon, and in 
the spring have the head orna- 
mented with tufts of feathers. 
When alarmed, they remain be- 
neath the surface of the water, 
Fig. 165. — Crested Grebe, exposing only the bill. 




SWIMMERS. 



Auks, Puffins, and Penguins. 

These belong to the cold regions, and the Penguins 
to the southern hemisphere. The Great Penguin of 
Patagonia is larger than a Goose. Its wings are so 




Fig. 166. — Patagonian Penguin. 

small that it cannot fly, and it stays in the water most 
of the time. It is extremely active in the water, often 
moving in leaps like those of a porpoise. Its eggs are 
laid in a shallow depression in the sand. Immense 
numbers of Penguins roost together, occupying with 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 8 



114 



VERTEBRATES : REPTILES. 



their nests the whole ground, except narrow walks 

leading to the water. 

The extinct Great Auk of 
the Arctic regions was as large 
as the Penguin ; its bones and 
eggs are rarities in museums. 
It has not been seen alive since 
1844, when the last two were 
killed near Iceland. Other 
kinds are much smaller; those 
called Puffins are not larger 
than a Dove. The Puffin makes 

its nest in a burrow and lays but one egg in a season. 




Fig. 167. — Puffin. 



REPTILES. 

Reptiles are Vertebrates which have cold blood, and 
are covered with hard plates, called scales, and which 
lay eggs. In most Reptiles the eggs are not brooded 
by the parent, and the young, as soon as hatched, look 
just like the parents, only smaller. Reptiles are such as 
Turtles or Tortoises, Lizards, and Serpents or Snakes. 

Turtles, or Tortoises. 

Turtles, or Tortoises, are Reptiles which have a shell 
into which they can withdraw their head, legs, and tail. 
Some of them live wholly upon land, like the Gophers 
in the Southern States which dig burrows that are 
dangerous pitfalls for horsemen, and the Box Turtles 
which live in the woods and can shut their shell so 
tightly as to entirely hide their extremities, as seen 
in Figure 170. Others, like the Painted Turtle with 
its colors of black, yellow, and red, the Wood Tortoise 




TURTLES. 115 

with its beautifully carved scales, the Speckled Tortoise 
with its black shell ornamented with orange-colored 
dots, and the Snapping Tur- 
tle, live in fresh-water ponds ™ 
and streams, coming at times 
upon the land. Others, like 
the Salt-water Terrapin, so 
much prized for food, live 
in salt-water creeks. Others, 
like the Hawkbill Turtle, the ; 
Green Turtles, and the Soft- 
Shelled Sphargis, live in the 
ocean, and only come on 
shore to lay their eggs. The 
land and fresh-water turtles 

of North America have the 

1 11 r r • • 1 , Fig. 168. — Skeleton of a Turtle, 

shell from four to six or eight 6 

inches long, except the Gophers and Snappers, which 

are much larger, having the shell a foot and a half 

or more in length ; in some cases, the Snapping Turtle 

is four feet long from the nose to the tip of the tail. 

This turtle has the head and neck very large, and 

the jaws strongly hooked ; it is exceedingly powerful, 

and very voracious, devouring smaller reptiles, fishes, 

young ducks, and other small animals. When molested 

it raises itself on its legs, opens its mouth wide, and, 

throwing the body forward, snaps its jaws upon its 

enemy with fearful power. See Figure 171. 

The Hawkbill Turtle, Figure 172, lives in the warm 
parts of the Atlantic Ocean, and weighs about two 
hundred pounds ; its scales furnish the material for 
beautiful and costly tortoise-shell ornaments. 

The Green Turtles weigh two or three hundred 



n6 



VERTEBRATES : REPTILES. 



pounds, or more, and are caught at night when they 
come on shore to lay their eggs. 




Fig. 169. — Wood Tortoise. 



Fig. 170. — Box Turtle, shut 
up and on its back. 




Fig. 172.— Hawkbill Turtle. 

The Sphargis, or Soft-shelled Sea Turtle, lives in the 
tropical regions of all oceans and has been found even 
in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the largest of all the 
Turtles, sometimes weighing fifteen hundred pounds. 



CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS: LIZARDS. WJ 

It is covered with a thick leather-like skin, instead of a 
hard shell, above the bony case. 

Crocodiles and Alligators. 

These Reptiles have a long body, long tail, teeth set 
in separate sockets, and a four-chambered heart. The 
Crocodiles of the Old World have a narrower jaw than 
the Alligator, and their teeth differ in size. Crocodiles 
thirty feet long, live in the river Nile. The Alligators, of 




Fig. J 73- — Alligator. 

the Southern States, are five, ten, or fifteen feet long, 
and have a head shaped something like that of a 
pickerel. They are numerous in sluggish streams, and 
devour small animals which come in their way. 

Lizards. 

These animals are small, have a long body and long 
tail, and are covered only with horny scales. 

The Six-lined Lizard, of the Southern States, is only 
nine or ten inches long, with six yellow lines along its 
sides and back. It is harmless, runs rapidly, and feeds 
upon insects. The Green Lizard, of the Southern 
States, is a smaller species which is common about 



n8 



VERTEBRATES : REPTILES. 



gardens and buildings, often entering houses, and mov- 
ing over the furniture, up and down the walls and 




Fig. 174. — Six-lined Lizard. 

window panes, and along the ceilings, in its search for 

flies, upon which it likes to feed. 

The Horned Toads are Lizards found in the south- 
ern and western parts 
of North America. 
The head is armed 
with spines, the body 
covered with tuber- 
cles. The Horned 
Toad, of Texas, is 
less than five inches 

long, and lively in movement, though sluggish in a cage. 




Fig. 175. — Horned Toad. 



Snakes, or Serpents. 

Serpents are Reptiles which are exceedingly long in 
proportion to their size, and which have no feet, yet 
they glide over the ground with very great speed. 
They move by the bending of their bodies, aided by 
the scales which cover their under surface. These are 
broad and flat and point backward so as to catch on 
the ground and thus aid in locomotion. Their mouth, 
throat, and body are capable of being greatly dis- 
tended, and hence they are able to swallow animals 



SNAKES. 



II 9 



whose bodies are much greater in diameter than their 
own. They do not masticate their food, and their 
teeth are suited only for seizing, killing, and retain- 
ing prey. The tongue is long, and capable of being 
run out much beyond the mouth, and it can be 
concealed within a sheath at its roots. They shed 
their skins every year, and most of them lay eggs from 
which the young are hatched. There are more than a 
thousand kinds of Snake, and more than a hundred 
kinds in North America. Some of the largest in the 




Fig. 176. — Black Snake. 



Tropical regions, as the Boas and Anacondas of South 
America, and the Pythons of Africa and India, are 
twenty or thirty feet long, and are able to swallow 



120 



VERTEBRATES : BATRACHIANS. 



dogs, or even small deer, after they have crushed them 
in their powerful folds. 

The Black Snake and the Striped Snakes are the 
most common kinds in North America. The former 
is from three to five feet long, and lustrous black. It 
runs very fast, and climbs trees and bushes to find bird's 
nests and devour the young. It is harmless to man. 

The Rattlesnake of North America, is found on 
rocky hills and mountains, and its bite is often fatal 
to men and animals. It has two very sharp fangs 
in the upper jaw. These are hollow or grooved, and 
connected with a bag of poison, so that when the 
snake strikes them into an animal, the poison is forced 
into the wound. 

BATRACHIANS. 



These are Vertebrates which have no scales, and 
which lay their eggs in the water ; the young re- 





F.g. i 7 3 




Fig. 179 



Fig. 177- 








Fig. 180. Fig. 181. Fig. 182. 

Figs. 177-182. — Changes in the form of a Frog from the time of 

hatching. 

semble Fishes more than they do their parents, and 
breathe by means of gills, like Fishes; but the adults 



FROGS AND TOADS. 121 

breathe by lungs. For example, the young frog or 
tadpole, when first hatched, appears as in Figure 177, 
with the gills in tufts on the two sides of the neck; 
later, it appears as in Figure 178, where the gills are 
concealed; later, it appears as in Figure 179, where it 
has hind legs; later, as in Figure 180, with four legs; 
later still, as in Figure 181, where the tail has mostly 
disappeared ; and later still, it becomes a perfect frog. 

Frogs and Toads. 

These have the body short and thick ; the tongue 
is long and fixed to the fore part of the jaw, and its tip 
is turned backward into the mouth, from which it can 
be darted forth quicker than a glance of the eye ; and it 
is by means of the tongue that Frogs and Toads snap 
up insects and worms, which form their principal food. 
The Bullfrog is our largest kind, and is well known by 
its croakings, which may be heard a mile. The Green 




Fig. 183. — Leopard Frog. 

Frog, Leopard Frog, and Pickerel Frog, are found 
about ponds and streams. The Wood Frog lives on 
land, and goes to the water only in spring to lay its 
eggs. The Tree Frogs, or Tree Toads, have toes that 



122 VERTEBRATES: BATRACHIANS. 

enable them to move along the trunks, branches, and 
leaves of trees. Here they live, except when they go into 
the water to lay their eggs. One of the tiny Tree Frogs, 
named Pickering's Hylodes, makes the 
high piping note, which in spring is 
heard in New England and in the 
Middle States throughout the night. 
It is found upon plants near to stag- 
Fig. 184.— Picker- nant pools, and in woods. 

ing's Hylodes. The American Toad is very useful to 
the farmer and gardener, in destroying insects. 

Salamanders, Tritons, Sirens, etc. 

Salamanders are Batrachians which have a long body 
and long tail, and which live upon the land, except 
when they go to the water to lay their eggs. There 





Fig. 185. — Salamander. 

are many kinds in North America, varying from three 
to twelve inches long. They are found mostly under 




86. —Triton. 



stones, fallen trees, and rubbish. Tritons have nearly 
the same form, but live in the water. Tritons have 
the most wonderful power to repair or renew injured 
or lost parts. The legs may be cut off, and in less 



SALAMANDERS, TRITONS, SIRENS, ETC. 



123 



than a year they will grow again ; and the limbs thus 
formed may also be cut off, and others will grow in 
their places ; and even if the eye be destroyed another 
will grow to supply the loss. 
In the Southern States is 
found the Congo Snake, an 
animal which is related to 
the Salamanders and Tri- 
tons. It is about two feet 
long, and lives in muddy 
waters. The Sirens have 
the gills in tufts, as in Fig- 
ures 188, 189; thus even in 
the adult state they are like 
the young of Frogs and Toads. They live in the water. 




87. — Congo Snake. 




Fig. 188. — Mud Puppy. 

Such are the Necturus, or Mud Puppy, of our Northern 




Fig. 189. — Axolotl. 

Lakes, and the Siren, of the Southern States. The 
Axolotl of Mexico and our Western States is the 



124 VERTEBRATES: FISHES. 

young of a kind of Salamander. It usually does not 
complete its transformations, but remains permanently 
in the water, breathing by gills. 

FISHES. 

Fishes are Vertebrates which have cold blood, live 
wholly in the water, and breathe by means of gills. 
Most of them are scaly, but some are covered with a 
smooth skin, others have spines, and others still are 
covered with bony plates. The jaws are generally 
armed with teeth, and, in many cases, all parts of the 
mouth also, and even the gullet. Their movements 
are usually rapid, and their forward motion is mainly 
produced by the movements of the tail. The parts 
which correspond to the arms and legs of Quadrupeds 
are very short, and are called fins ; and their use is 
mainly to balance and direct. The flesh is light-col- 
ored or white. In general, the eye of Fishes has little 
motion, and the pupil is always of the same size, both 
in light and darkness ; the ear is wholly inclosed 
by the bones of the head. They are very voracious, 
feeding mainly upon smaller fishes, and other small 
animals, which they usually swallow whole. Those 
which feed on shellfish crush their food by means of 
the teeth in the gullet. Most Fishes lay eggs; a few 
kinds bring forth living young. Nearly all seem to 
have no care for their young, but eat them greedily. 
The number of eggs from a single fish in one season is 
often very great ; the Salmon sometimes lays twenty 
thousand, the Cod more than nine million. The 
colors of Fishes are very beautiful, exhibiting metallic 
lusters, the brilliancy of precious stones, and the 



SPINE-FINNED FISHES. 



125 




Fig. 190. — Yellow Perch. 




Fig. 191. — Brea 




Fig. 192. — Striped Bass. 





Fig. 193. — Stargazer. 



Fig. 194. — Sea Robin 



Fig. 195. — Stickle- 
back. 





Fig. 196. — Darter. 



Fig. 197. — Sea Raven. 



126 VERTEBRATES: EISHES. 

delicate tints of flowers ; they are indeed the gems of 
the waters, as the Humming Birds are the gems of the 
air. The wonderful power and swift motion of some, 
the wholesome and delicious food furnished by many, 
and the exciting sport of their capture combine to 
render Fishes objects of great interest. The number 
of known kinds is about ten thousand. 

Spine-finned Fishes. 

Spine-finned Fishes have spines in the back or dorsal 
fin, and often in the lower fins. The Perch, Sea Bass, 
Pondfish or Bream, Stargazers, Sculpins, Sticklebacks, 
Porgee, Mackerel, Swordfish, and a host of others be- 
long to this group, for it is the largest of all. 

The American Yellow Perch, of our ponds and rivers, 
is known to every boy. The Striped Bass is caught in 
the sea near the shore, and the largest weigh seventy- 
five pounds each. The Pondfish or Bream is found in 
every pond, and the round cavities which it makes for 
its nest may be seen in great numbers near the shore. 
The Stargazers live in the sea, and have the eyes on 
top of the head, so that they appear as though looking 
at the heavens. The Sculpins live in the sea, and are 
often called Sea Robins, Sea Ravens, etc. The Stickle- 
backs are very small Fishes which inhabit both the sea 
and streams, and are very active and greedy, a single 
one having devoured seventy-five young fish in less 
than half a day. They construct very curious nests. 
The Weakfish and Porgee live in the Atlantic Ocean, 
and are caught for food. The Mackerel lives in the sea, 
and is caught on the coast of New England in immense 
numbers. The Swordfish has the upper jaw very 



SPINE-FINNED FISHES. 



127 




Fig. 2or. — Mackerel. 




Fig. 203. — Pilot Fish. 




Fig. 204. — Bluefish. 



128 VERTEBRATES: FISHES. 

much extended, forming a powerful and dangerous 
weapon, with which it attacks Whales and other large 
animals of the sea. The Bluefish is found in nearly 
all seas, and makes excellent food. The Dolphin lives 
in the Mediterranean, and in the Atlantic, and is cele- 
brated for its beautiful colors, and for the brilliant tints 
which it has when dying. The Surgeon has a sharp 
spine or lancet on the side of its tail ; it lives in the 
sea. Mullets are small fishes which live in the sea, and 
in fresh waters. Eelpouts are long, somewhat eel- 
shaped fishes, which the fishermen catch when fishing 
for Cod. The Goosefish of the Atlantic, is large, some- 
times weighing seventy pounds, and has such a big 
mouth that it swallows fishes almost as large as itself. 
Gulls and other sea birds are often found whole in its 
stomach. The Toadfish, of the Atlantic, is about a 





Fig. 205. — Toadfish. Fig. 206. — Conner. 

foot long, and seems to care for its young. The Conner 
is very abundant on the coast of New England. 

Soft-finned Fishes. 

These Fishes have no spines in their fins. They are 
the Carp, Dace, Shiners, Suckers, Pike, Pickerel, Gar- 
fishes of the sea. Flying Fishes, Salmon, Herring, Cod, 
Eels, etc. 

The Common Shiner, found in most ponds, lakes, and 
rivers, is from three to six inches long, and of a golden 
color. The Pickerel, so well known in the fresh waters, 



SPINE-FINNED FISHES. 



I29 




Fig. 207. — Blunt-nosed 
Shiner. 




Fig. 209. — Surgeon. 




Fig. 212. — Angler, or Goosefish. 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 9 



130 VERTEBRATES: FISHES. 

is a handsome fish, of fine flavor, and the sport of its 
capture is very exciting. The Garfish lives in the 
sea, and has an extremely long head and body ; the 
jaws are pointed, and armed with many small teeth, 
and its bones are green. Flying Fishes have the fins, 
which are directly behind the gills, so large that they 
are able to sustain themselves in the air for a few mo- 
ments, thus appearing to fly. They live in all warm 
and temperate seas, and are from three inches to a 
foot in length. The Blindfish is found in the waters of 
the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, and is about three 
inches long. Its eyes are under the skin, so that it 
is perfectly blind, and thus adapted to the dark waters 
of the cave. The Horned Pout, from six to ten inches 
long, and common in ponds and sluggish streams, 
has the head armed with sharp spines, which inflict a 
smarting wound on the hand of the careless fisherman. 
The Salmon is a most ^eautiful fish, whose home is 
in the Arctic seas, but it comes southward and ascends 
rivers for the purpose of laying its eggs, and is caught 
in large numbers. Its flesh is delicious, and it weighs 
from ten to thirty pounds or more. The Lake Trout 
inhabits our northern lakes, and is from two to five feet 
long, of a gray color with lighter spots. The Brook, 
or Speckled, Trout, is found in most of the clear streams 
of the temperate parts of North America, and is very 
beautiful, being dark above, silvery below, and the 
sides dotted with red and yellow. Its flesh has a very 
delicate taste. It is very shy, and its capture often 
requires much skill. The Herring lives in the Arctic 
seas, and comes southward in spring to lay its eggs. 
It is about a foot long. 

The Cod inhabits the north Atlantic, and attains a 



SOFT-FINNED FISHES. 



131 




Fig. 213. — Pickerel. Fig. 214. — Shiner. 





Fig. 215. — Flying Fish. Fig. 216. — Garfish. 




Fig. 217. — Blindfish. 




Fig. 218. — Horned Pout. 




Fig. 219. — Salmon. 





Fig. 220. — Herring. 



Fig. 221. — Speckled Trout. 



I 3 2 



VERTEBRATES : FISHES. 




Fig. 222. — American Cod. 




Fig. 223. — Flounder. 




Fig. 224.— Burbot. 




Fig. 226. — Lumpfish. 



Fig. 225. — Eel. 




Fig. 227. — Remora. 




Fig. 227, a.— Top of 
head of Remora. 



TUFT-GILLED FISHES. I 33 

weight of even a hundred pounds in some cases. It 
is taken in immense numbers on the Banks of New- 
foundland, and when salted and dried is carried to all 
parts of the world. The Flounders are marine Fishes 
which have the body flattened on the sides, and both 
eyes are on the same side of the head. The side 
upon which the eyes are placed is always uppermost, 
and is dark colored, while the opposite side is white. 
They swim, therefore, on one side, and they keep close 
to the bottom. Flounders are from six inches to two 
feet long, and are caught in great numbers, even from 
the wharves. Halibuts are shaped like the Floun- 
ders, and in some cases weigh six hundred pounds. 
The Flounders and the Halibuts are the only back- 
boned animals which have the right and left sides 
unlike. The Lumpfishes are those whose ventral 
fins are so joined as to form a sort of cup, by which 
they are able to attach themselves firmly to rocks or 
other objects. Pennant, the naturalist, says that he 
put one into a pail of water, and it adhered so tightly 
to the bottom that he lifted the whole pailful by taking 
hold of the fish by the tail. It lives in the north At- 
lantic. The Remora has a flattened head, so con- 
structed that the fish can attach itself by it to other 
marine animals, such as Sharks. It is a foot or more in 
length. Eels have a long, round body, covered with a 
thick, soft skin, live in both fresh and salt waters, and 
keep near the bottom, often lying concealed in the mud. 

TlJFT-GILLED FlSHES. 

These Fishes have their gills in tufts, and are known 
as Pipefishes and Sea Horses, on account of their sin- 



134 VERTEBRATES: FISHES. 

gular forms. Pipefishes have a very long and slender 
body covered with hard plates, and a long snout with 
the mouth at the end. They live in the warm seas. 
After the eggs are laid, the male takes them in a sort 
of sack and carries them about with him till they are 
hatched. Sea Horses have a short body covered with 
spiny plates, a tail adapted for grasping objects, and the 
head and neck resemble those of a Horse. They are 
from three to six inches long, and live in the sea. 

Puffers, Trunkfishes, etc., or Plectognathi. 

Puffers have the body covered with spines, and can 
swell themselves like a balloon by swallowing air. The 
Common Puffer lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and is about 
a foot long. 

The Sunfish, of the Atlantic, grows to the length 
of four feet, and weighs five hundred pounds. 

The Trunkfish has the head and body covered with 
bony plates, so firmly attached to each other that they 
form a shield, and the mouth, tail, and fins are the 
only movable parts. Two or three kinds are found on 
the Atlantic coast of the United States. 

Sturgeons and Garpikes. 

Sturgeons are Fishes whose skeleton is a sort of carti- 
lage, instead of being bony, as in those already de- 
scribed. They are also covered with bony plates placed 
in rows along the whole length of the body, and the 
mouth is under the snout, and can be much protruded. 
They are from three to ten feet long, inhabit lakes and 
the ocean, and ascend rivers. See Figure 233. 



TUFT-GILLED FISHES, PUFFERS, ETC. 135 




Fig. 228. — Sea Horse. 




Fig. 230. — Puffer. 



Fig. 229. — Pipefish. 




Fig. 231. — Trunkfish. 




Fig. 232. — Sunfish. 




Fig. 233. — Sturgeon. 



$6 VERTEBRATES: FISHES. 




Fig. 234. — Garpike. 

The Garpike of the Mississippi valley has a long 
body and long jaws, armed with numerous sharp teeth. 
Its body is covered with enameled scales fitted closely 
together. 

Sharks, or Selachians. 

These are marine Fishes with a cartilaginous skeleton. 
They are frequently large, and usually very ferocious. 
They vary from four to thirty feet in length ; their 
teeth are numerous, sharp as lancets, and inflict the 
severest wounds. The smaller marine animals, and 
even men, fall a prey to them. 

The Rays, or Skates, are broad and flat, from two 
to six feet or more in length and width. Those called 
Vampires are sometimes sixteen feet wide, and weigh 
several tons. One kind, the Torpedo, gives violent 
electrical shocks when touched. See Figures 241, 242. 

Suckers, or Cyclostomi. 

The true Suckers are the least perfect and lowest of all 
the Fishes, and their tongue moves forwards and back- 
wards like the piston in a pump, enabling them to pro- 
duce a vacuum, and thus to fix themselves to other 
fishes. The Sea Lamprey, two or three feet long, the 
Hagfish or Myxine, six or eight inches long, and the 
Brook Lamprey about a foot long, are of this kind. The 



SHARKS. 



37 




Fig. 238. — Head of 
Hammerhead Shark. 



Fig. 237. —Head of Mackerel Shark. 




Fig. 240. — Sawfish — a Shark. 



138 



VERTEBRATES: FISHES. 



Lamprey ascends rivers, and piles up heaps of stones, 

among which it lays its eggs. See Figures 243, 244. 

The Amphioxus, or Lancelet, is about two inches 

long. It is the lowest and simplest in structure of all 





Fig. 242. — Torpedo. 




Fig. 241. — Ray, or Skate. 



Fig. 243. — Lamprey. 




Fig. 244. — Hagfish, or Myxine. Fig. 245. — Amphioxus, or Lancelet. 



the Vertebrates. It is a beautiful, transparent little 
creature, and is found in the sandy bottom of Chesa- 
peake Bay and in similar shallow, quiet waters in 
tropical and sub-tropical seas. See Figure 245. 




INSECTS. 139 

TUNICATES. 

These animals have no shell, but 
are covered with a tough tunic, or 
skin. Sometimes they grow in clus- 
ters, attached by a stem to seaweed, 
rocks, or floating timber. They 
vary from the size of a pea to several 
inches in diameter. They are some- 
times called Ascidians, from a word 
Fig. 246.— Tunicate. wn ich means a leather bag. Strange 
as it may appear they are not distantly related to the 
Vertebrates, as is shown by their development. 

ARTHROPODS, OR JOINTED ANIMALS. 

Arthropods have no internal skeleton ; the hard 
parts are exterior ; the body is made up of a series of 
similar rings, each of which bears a pair of jointed legs. 
They include the Insects, — Bees, Butterflies, Flies, 
Beetles, Bugs, Grasshoppers, Darning Needles, etc., — 
Spiders, Scorpions, Mites, Lobsters, and Shrimps. 

INSECTS. 

Insects breathe by means of air holes along the sides 
of the body, the openings of branching air tubes which 
carry air to every part. The term Insect means cut 
into; the animals seem to be cut into, or jointed. The 
body is divided into three parts, — the head, middle 
body or thorax, and hind body or abdomen. On the 
head and near the eyes are two jointed members, called 
antennae, supposed to be connected with the sense of 



140 ARTHROPODS : INSECTS. 

smell or of touch, or of both ; to the thorax are at- 
tached the legs and wings ; and the hind body con- 
tains the organs of digestion, and often has a sting, or 
piercer. Insects either bite their food or suck it. 
Those which bite their food have an under and upper 
lip, between which are two pairs of jaws which move 
sidewise, and two pairs of little feelers, which they use 
to touch and examine the food. Those Insects which 
suck their food have either a long tube, as Butterflies 
and Moths ; a piercing sucker, as Mosquitoes ; a softer 
one, used for lapping, as Flies ; or a jointed one, which 
is doubled under the breast when not in use, as Bees. 
The eyes of Insects appear to be only two in number, 
but each is composed of many single eyes, — often 
thousands, and in some cases the astonishing num- 
ber of twenty-five thousand, — closely united. Many 
Insects have also one, two, or three single eyes on the 
crown of the head. The legs are six in number, and 
are attached to the under side of the thorax ; the 
wings are four, or sometimes two, and vary greatly in 
form and thickness, in veinings, and in the manner of 
folding when at rest. The hind body is the largest 
portion, and most of the air holes are found in it. 

Insects are produced from eggs. A very few do not 
lay their eggs, but retain them in the body till hatched ; 
others always lay their eggs where the young will 
find a plentiful supply of food. Many Insects undergo 
great and wonderful changes in form and habits ; so 
great, that the same insect, at different ages, might 
be taken for as many different animals. For ex- 
ample : a caterpillar, after feeding upon leaves until 
it is fully grown, casts off its skin, and appears as 
a much smaller, oval body, which neither moves about 



INSECTS. 



41 




Fig 247. — Larva. 







Fig. 248. — Pupa of 
Fig. 247- 



Fig. 249. — Imago of Figs. 247, 248. 




Fig. 250. — Larva. 




Fig. 251. — Pupa of Fig. 250. 




Fig. 252. — Imago of Figs. 250, 25: 



142 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

nor takes food. After remaining awhile in this state, 
the skin bursts open, and there comes forth a Butterfly 
or a Moth, whose wings expand, and harden, and are 
soon able to bear it away in search of flowers, upon 
whose honey it feeds. In its first state it is called a 
larva, — a word which means a mask, — because its 
future form is masked or concealed ; in the second 
state it is called a pupa, — a word meaning infant, — 
from a slight resemblance that some insects in this 
state bear to an infant clothed with bandages, accord- 
ing to a custom among the Romans ; and it is also 
often called a chrysalis, from a Greek word which 
means gold, because some of the pupae are adorned 
with golden spots ; in the third state it is called a per- 
fect insect, or imago, from a word which means image, 
because the image concealed in the skin of the pupa 
has come forth. These different states are plainly 
shown on page 141. Some caterpillars spin a silken 
covering, which is called a cocoon, 
from a word which means a shell; 
all the silk of the world comes 
from the cocoons of these little 

creatures. Insects which pass 
Fi£. 253. — Cocoon. . . . . . 

through the changes just de- 
scribed are said to undergo a complete transforma- 
tion ; but there are some insects which do not change 
their form so completely. Grasshoppers, for instance, 
are active during their whole lives, never passing 
through an inactive pupa state. When hatched from 
the egg they have legs, but no wings ; later their wings 
begin to grow, and, at length, having shed their skin 
several times, each time appearing with longer legs and 
more perfect wings, they reach their full growth, shed 




HYMEXOPTERA : BEES. 143 

the skin for the last time, and appear as perfect, or 
adult, grasshoppers. Such Insects undergo only a 
partial transformation. 

Insects are the most numerous of all the classes of 
animals, there being more than two hundred thousand 
kinds described ; while the undescribed forms are far 
more numerous. And the study of Insects is one of 
the most interesting and fascinating in which one can 
engage. The study of Insects is also very important, 
that we may know which are injurious to the farm, 
orchard, garden, granary, and closets, and by knowing 
their habits be able to resist their attacks ; and that 
we may know which are of use to man : for the Bee 
gives us delicious honey; some of the Beetles are of 
use to the sick; some of the little Bark Lice, as the 
Cochineal, yield rich dyes; and some of the Cater- 
pillars furnish all the world with silk. 

Bees, Wasps, Ichneumons, etc., or Hymenoptera. 

These Insects have four wings which are more or 
less transparent, the hind pair being the smaller, and 
all with a few branching veins. They have two pairs 
of jaws, — the upper pair fitted for biting, while in the 
Bees the lower pair with the lower lip is adapted for 
collecting honey. The females have either a sting or 
a piercer for laying their eggs. They surpass all other 
Insects in the number and variety of their instincts. 
The word Hymenopter means membrane-winged. 

Bees. 

Bees have a hairy body, and their lower lip is length- 
ened into a sort of proboscis, which is jointed and can 



144 ARTHROPODS : INSECTS. 

be folded under the head; the first joint of the hind 
legs is often very large, and fitted for collecting and 
carrying the pollen of flowers. 

The Hive or Honey Bee is originally from Asia, but 
has now spread over Europe and America. It is seen 
almost everywhere in hives, and it is also quite com, 
mon in a wild state, and often far from human dwell- 
ings. In a wild state, Bees of this kind have then 
home in hollow trees and in clefts of rocks. In every 
nest or hive there are three kinds, a female or queen, 
males or drones, and workers. In a well-stocked hive 
there are two thousand males, fifty thousand workers, 
but only one queen. The workers are the smallest ; 




Fig. 254. — Queen. Fig. 255. — Worker. Fig. 256. — Drone. 

Hive Bee. 

they fly over the surrounding country and collect all 
the materials to form the structure called the comb; 
they build the cells and store them with honey ; they 
feed and protect the young ; they wait upon the 
queen ; they do all the work of the hive. The males 
or drones have a thicker body, and no sting ; they per- 
form no labor, but are supported by the workers. The 
queen is much larger than the others, has a sting, and 
is the sole mistress of the hive. She lays all the eggs, 
and seldom goes out except to lead a swarm. The 
honeycomb is one of the most interesting of insect 



HYMENOPTERA: BEES. 145 

structures, and is arranged in the hive in the most 
regular manner. The cells are six-sided, and are built 
in just the shape to save all the room, to be the 
strongest, to contain the greatest amount of honey, 
and to require the least amount of wax in their con- 
struction. 

There are certain cells in which the queen lays her 
eggs, depositing one in each cell ; and when the eggs 
are laid, the workers fill the cells with the pollen of 
flowers mixed with water and honey,- — this is food for 
the larvae. In about two days the eggs hatch into small 
white larvae, and in five or six days these begin to spin 
a cocoon, and soon go into the pupa state. A queen 
comes forth from this state in sixteen days, workers in 
twenty days, and drones in twenty-four days. As only 
one queen can live in a hive, whenever a young queen 
is hatched she is carefully guarded from the old one by 
the workers, till it is settled whether the old queen will 
be wanted to lead forth a swarm. If a new swarm is 
not to go forth, the old queen is allowed to approach 
the young queen and royal cells, and destroy the brood, 
with her sting. If the old queen leaves with a swarm, 
a young queen is set free and immediately endeavors 
to destroy the others, but is prevented by a guard of 
workers, while there is a prospect of another swarming ; 
if she departs with a swarm, another queen is set free, 
and so on till further swarming is impossible; then the 
young queen is allowed to kill all her sisters. If two 
queens hatch at the same time, they instantly engage 
in conflict, the other bees favoring the battle, and 
when one is killed, the survivor is recognized as queen. 
When a hive loses its queen, there is the greatest con- 
fusion ; after several hours they become quiet, and if 

NAT. HIST. AN. — IO 



146 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

there are no eggs or larvae in the cells from which a new 
queen may be hatched, they become discouraged, cease 
to labor, and the whole colony soon dies. If there are 
eggs or larvae in the cells, the bees select one, — the 
larva of a worker, — and destroying the cells adjoining, 
so as to make a royal cell, they supply the grub with 
the sort of food prepared for queens, and in this way 
soon raise another queen. 

The Humble Bees are larger than the Hive Bees, 
and have very hairy bodies. There are more than 
forty kinds in North America. They build nests in 
the ground, or under stones, or in deserted mouse nests, 
and their cells are larger and egg-shaped. Sometimes 
there are four hundred bees in a community, the de- 
scendants of one female bee which survived the win- 
ter and founded the colony in the spring. The Car- 
penter Bees are large. They cut tubular holes in posts 
and stumps, and lay their eggs there in layers of pol- 
len. The Mason Bees make their nests of sand, in 
crevices. 

Wasps. 

Wasps usually live in colonies composed of males, 
females, and workers. Unlike Bees, they prey upon 




Fig. 257 



HYMENOPTERA: WASPS. 147 

other insects. They build nests under ground, or in 
holes, or attach them to bushes, trees, fences, or build- 
ings. The nest is usually made of a substance which 
they gnaw from wood, and which, by the action of their 
jaws, they reduce to a pulp, which hardens into a sort 
of paper. The Wasps were the first paper-makers, and 
they were the first to show that paper can be made of 
wood. The combs lie horizontally in the nest, are 
made of the same paper-like material as the nest, and 
each is attached to the one below it by a sort of pillar. 
The cells contain no honey, but are built for places in 
which to rear the young. The colony is dissolved on 
the approach of winter, the males die, and the females 
seek a sheltered winter retreat. Each female that sur- 
vives the cold founds a new colony in the spring, build- 
ing a few cells and laying her eggs, from which are 
hatched only workers. These assist the parent, and at 
length, in autumn, three generations have been pro- 
duced, the last composed of males and females, and the 
nest has grown from a few cells to one containing 
thousands. The Hornet is one of the largest of the 
Wasps, and was brought to this country from Europe. 
Some kinds of Wasps build open nests of a few 
cells, and attach them to some object by a short stem. 
Other kinds build their nests of mud, and store them 
with insects for the food of the larvae ; these are the 
Mud Wasps. They have the hind body joined to the 
thorax by a long stem or pedicel, and their color is 
shining blue, or black, or black and orange, or brown 
and red. One of the black and orange Mud Wasps 
built two beautiful mud cells in the corner of my 
room. She worked very industriously and rapidly, 
building a cell in a few hours. Flying in at the open 




148 ARTHROPODS:* INSECTS. 

window, with a ball of mud in her mouth, she moved 
quickly around the room, then flew up to the spot 
where she was building, and de- 
positing her mud, shaped it with 
her jaws with all the care and 
regularity of a perfect mason. 
The day after she finished the 
first cell, she filled it with spiders 
and sealed it over with mud. On 
Fig. 258. — Mud Wasp's opening it to examine the insects 
nest - stored within, quite a large hole 

was accidentally made ; this she very soon discovered, 
and began to repair it, and in about five minutes she 
had completely closed it. The second cell was soon 
sealed like the first. Fig. 258 shows them, as they 
appeared before the second was filled with spiders and 
closed. 

Ants. 

Ants live together in colonies, which are often very 
large, and made up of males, females, and workers. 
The workers have no wings, but the males and females 
have wings, and the females have the power of throw- 
ing them off. Some kinds of Ants make their nests in 
the ground ; others raise large ant-hills ; and others 
live in stumps and trunks of trees. The workers take 
care of the nest and rear the young; they go abroad 
in search of food, communicate with and assist each 
other, feed the larvae, take them into the sunshine in 
fair weather and back again on the approach of a 
storm or at night, and watch over them earnestly and 
faithfully. Ants are fond of sweet things, and some 
obtain such food from the secretion of aphides, or 



HYMENOPTERA : ICHNEUMONS. 



149 



plant lice, — little insects which live upon the juices 
of plants, and yield a honey-like fluid. Some kinds 
of Ants collect large numbers of aphides and keep 
them on plants, that they may eat the sweets which 
they produce. There is generally but one species 
of Ant in each nest, but in some cases the workers, 
or, rather, warriors, make slaves by visiting the hills 
of other species, forcibly taking the larvae and pupae, 
and bringing them back, where they are tended and 
reared by workers of the same kind which have be- 
fore been stolen in the same way. Ants are very 
warlike, and engage in deadly pitched battles. 

Ichneumons. 

These Insects have a long, hard, slender body, long 
antennae, and the ovipositor is usually long ; the latter 




Fig. 259. — Ichneumon laying her eggs in holes 
bored by the Boring Sawfly, Figure 262. 




Fig. 260. — Ich- 
neumon. 



is sometimes two or three times the length of the body. 
They lay their eggs in the eggs, larvae, and pupae of 



150 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

other insects, and thus destroy great numbers of them. 
Sometimes the eggs are laid upon the outside, but usu- 
ally inside. When laid on the outside of the pupae, 
the Ichneumon, as soon as hatched, eats its way into 
its victim ; when laid inside, it feeds upon the body 
but attacks no vital part, and the insect does not die 
till the Ichneumon is ready for the pupa state. 

Gallflies. 

These are very small Insects, and the females have a 
long, slender ovipositor, with which they insert their 
eggs into leaves and other parts of plants. These 
punctures cause outgrowths called galls, which vary in 
size, form, and solidity, according to the nature or part 
of the plant that is wounded, and 
according to the kind of Gallfly that 
makes the wound. Some are shaped 
like an apple, as the gall of the oak ; 
some like a bunch of currants ; some 
are almost as hard as iron ; and some 
Fig. 261. — Rose- are j uicy and pulpy, like fruit. At 

} ' length the eggs hatch, and the larvae 

feed upon the vegetable matter which surrounds them. 
Some galls have only one tenant, others contain many, 
and usually these Insects undergo all their changes 
within the galls, and, gnawing through the shell, fly 
away ; but some kinds gnaw through at the end of 
their larva life, and enter the ground to go into the 
pupa state. The nutgalls used in making ink, in col- 
oring, and in medicine, are caused by an insect which 
punctures a species of oak common in western Asia. 
The Rosebush Gallfly punctures the stems of rose- 




HYMENOPTERA: SAWFLIES. 1 5 I 

bushes, producing woody galls. One of the largest 
species is the Willow Gallfly ; its galls are found at 
the end of basket willow twigs. 

Boring Sawflies. 

The Boring Sawflies have a long body ; the hind 
body is blunt and ends in a horny point. Extending 
from beneath the hind body is a long, saw-like, and 




Fig. 262. — Boring Sawfly, or Pigeon Tremex. 

powerful borer, used to make holes in trees, in which to 
lay their eggs. The larvae live in tree-trunks. 

True Sawflies. 

The females of the true 
Sawflies have an ovipositor 
composed of two saws, en- 
closed between two horny 
pieces, which serve as a 
sheath. These saws are pro- 
jected and withdrawn when Fig ^ _ FiMf ^ Sawfly 
the insect is cutting a place Enlarged. 




152 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

for her eggs ; but not together, for while one is pushed 
forward, the other is withdrawn. When the hole is 
cut deep enough, the egg is deposited within. Saw- 
flies are sluggish, and fly only on the warmest days. 
The larvae are found together in large numbers on the 
leaves of the birch and alder. When disturbed, they 
take very curious attitudes, appearing to stand upon 
the head, curling into an S, or coiling with the head 
in the center looking somewhat like a snail-shell. 

Butterflies and Moths, or Lepidoptera. 

The word Lepidopter means scaly-zvinged, and is 
given to these Insects because their wings are covered 
on both sides with minute scales. These are removed 
by the slightest touch, and to the naked eye look like 
a mealy powder; but when seen under a microscope, 
they are found to be little scales attached to the skin 
by a short stem. The tongue is long, and adapted for 
suction ; when not in use it is rolled up like a watch 
spring beneath the head, and partly concealed on each 
side by a little feeler. They have six legs, the first 
pair being short, and, in some cases, folded under 
the breast ; the feet end in a pair of claws. The 
young of Butterflies and Moths are called caterpillars, 
and these have from ten to sixteen legs. Six of the 
legs correspond to those of the Butterfly. The rest are 
unjointed projections of the abdomen, and are called 
prolegs or proplegs. Most caterpillars feed upon the 
leaves of plants. Some eat buds, blossoms, seeds, and 
roots, and others eat the solid wood. Some eat wool- 
ens, others furs, others meat, lard, wax, and flour. 
Some kinds herd together in great numbers, and build 



LEPIDOPTERA: BUTTERFLIES. 



153 



nests in which they live, or to which they retire for 
shelter ; others live in solitude, either in the light 
and air, or sheltered in leaves folded over them, or in 
silken sheaths which they make ; and some conceal 
themselves in the ground, coming forth only to eat. 
In the middle of the lower lip there is a little tube, from 




which the caterpillar spins silken threads. Two long 
slender bags within the body, ending in the spinning 
tube, contain the material from which the silk is made : 



154 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

these correspond to the salivary glands. The silk is 
a sticky fluid, which hardens into a thread as soon as 
it comes to the air. Some caterpillars spin but little 
silk, others produce it in abundance. 

Caterpillars change their skins about four times in 
coming to their full growth as caterpillars ; and when 
about to change into the pupa or chrysalis state, they 
cease eating, and many of them spin around their body 
a silken covering called a cocoon, others suspend them- 
selves by silken threads without making a cocoon, and 
others enter the ground. When the caterpillar is pre- 
pared for the change, it bursts the skin on the back, 
draws out the forward part of its body, and works the 
skin backward until it throws it off ; and now it is a 
chrysalis, shorter than the caterpillar, and at first sight 
it appears destitute of head and limbs; but on looking 
more carefully we perceive traces of head, tongue, 
antennae, wings, and legs. Some chrysalides are angu- 
lar, but most of them are smooth, rounded at one end, 
and tapering at the other ; they remain motionless, or 
only move the hind part of the body when touched. 
At length, the inclosed insect is ready to come forth, 
and by many movements its bursts the skin of the 
back, and the Butterfly or Moth appears. At first it 
is soft, weak, and moist, with small and shriveled 
wings ; but soon the moisture passes off, the limbs 
become firm, the wings expand, and the perfect and 
beautiful insect flies away to feed upon water and the 
honey of flowers. Butterflies and Moths do not in- 
crease in size ; they are full grown when they emerge 
from the pupa skin ; and after having laid their eggs, 
they soon 'die. Butterflies fly in the daytime, have 
their wings erect when at rest, their antennae are 



LEPIDOPTERA : BUTTERFLIES. 



155 



threadlike, with a little knob at the end, and their 
larvae do not spin cocoons. Moths fly mainly at 
night, have their wings when at rest more or less slop- 
ing like a roof, and their antennae are variously formed, 
but never knobbed at the end. 

Papilio Butterflies. 

The Turnus Butterfly is one of the largest in North 
America. Its color is a beautiful yellow, with black 
markings, and the hind wings are tailed. The cater- 
pillar feeds upon the leaves of the apple and wild 




Fig. 265. — Larva of Asterias Butterfly 




Fig. 266. — Pupa of Fig. 265 




Fig. 267. — Asterias Butterfly 



156 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

cherry trees, folding them up so as to make a case for 
itself. When fully grown, it is about two inches long, 
green above, with rows of blue dots and yellow and 
black marks, and its head and legs are pink. It be- 
comes a chrysalis early in August, and comes out a 
butterfly the next summer. See Figure 264. 

The Asterias Butterfly is black, with two rows of 
yellow dots on the back, and two rows of yellow spots 
across the wings; the hind wings are tailed, and have 
seven blue spots between the two rows of yellow ones, 
and an eye-like spot of an orange color with a black 
center. The female is much larger, and has fewer yel- 
low spots on the upper surface. The caterpillar lives 
upon such plants as the carrot, parsnip, celery, and 
anise. It is green, with a band made up of yellow and 
black spots on each ring. When touched, it thrusts 
out from the head a pair of soft, orange-colored horns. 
These have an unpleasant odor, which makes the cater- 
pillar disagreeable to birds. Thus it escapes being 
eaten. In July it reaches its full growth as a cater- 
pillar ; then it seeks a sheltered spot on the side of a 
building or fence, spins a tuft of silk, fixes its hind feet 
in it, then makes a loop of silk, and, passing its body 
through it, rests upon it as a support ; soon it casts its 
caterpillar skin and becomes a pupa or chrysalis, Figure 
266. In about a fortnight the butterfly, Figure 267, 
appears. 

White and Yellow Butterflies. 

The Philodice, or Yellow Butterfly, expands about 
two inches, and is common in fields and by roadsides 
throughout the summer. The White Butterfly, or 
Pieris, is of about the same size, and is also common. 



LEPIDOPTERA : BUTTERFLIES. 



157 



Nymphalis Butterflies. 

These Butterflies are remarkable for their beautiful 
colors. The Misippus Butterfly has the wings tawny 
yellow, veined with black, and a black border spotted 
with white, the fore wings have near their tips a black 
patch spotted with white, and on the hind wings is 




Fig. 268. — Misippus Butterfly. 

a curved black band. The caterpillar is pale brown, 
marked with white on the sides, and on the second 
ring are two blackish horns. The butterfly is seen in 
June and September. 

Satyrus Butterflies. 

These have their wings broad 
and rounded, and those called Hip- 
parchians have the wings of a deli- 
cate brown color, with beautiful 
eye-spots. They are very com- 
mon in groves and about bushes 
late in the summer. Closely re- 
lated to these is the Mountain 
Butterfly, which is found only on 
the top of Mount Washington. Butterfly. 





158 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

Skippers. 

Skippers are butterflies which have a short body, 
large head, and large eyes; and the antennae have the 
knob at the end either curved like a 
hook or ending in a little point bent 
to one side. They are called Skippers 
because they fly with a jerking mo- 
tion. They are generally of a rich 
Skipper. 11 

brown color, marked with spots of 

yellow, and expand from an inch and a half to two 
inches and a half. 

The Tityrus Skipper is one of the largest and most 
beautiful species. Its wings are brown ; the forward 
wings have a yellow band across the middle and 
yellow spots near the tips, and the hind wings have a 
broad, silver-colored band across the middle of the 
under side. It is found about clover and other flow- 
ers in June and July. The females lay their eggs on 
the leaves of the locust trees. The caterpillar, when 
full grown, is about two inches long, pale green, with 
cross streaks of darker green ; the head and neck are 
red, with a yellow spot on each side of the mouth. 

Hawk Moths, or Sphingidae. 

These Moths are large, and have the antennae thick- 
est in the middle and usually hooked at the tip, and 
the wings long and narrow. During the morning and 
evening twilight, they may be seen flying from flower 
to flower with great swiftness, and are easily mistaken 
for Humming Birds. A few kinds fly by day and in 
bright sunshine. The caterpillars are very large, and 
are remarkable for their curious attitudes, which re- 



LEPIDOPTERA: MOTHS. 



59 



minded Linnseus of the Sphinx, a sculptured monster 
of the Egyptians. 




i6o 



ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 



The Five-spotted Sphinx expands about five inches, 
and is of a mixed grayish and blackish color, and on 
each side of the body there are five orange-colored 
spots surrounded by black. Its tongue, when fully 
unrolled, is five or six inches long, but when not in 
use is coiled up nearly out of sight. The caterpillar 
is known as the potato worm, and is green, with ob- 
lique whitish stripes on the sides, and a thorn-like pro- 
jection on the tail. It attains its full length, three 
inches or more, in August', and then buries itself in 




Fig. 272. — Larva of Five-spotted Sphinx. 

tie ground. Here, in a few days, it throws off its 
skin and becomes a chrysalis, of a bright brown color, 




Fig. 273. — Chrysalis of Five-spotted Sphinx. 

with a long tongue-case bent over from the head, its 
end touching the breast, and somewhat resembling the 
handle of a pitcher. It remains in the ground all 
winter, and in the following summer the large moth 
crawls out of it, comes to the surface, mounts a plant, 
and waits till the approach of evening, when it flies 
away in search of food. 



LEPIDOPTERA : MOTHS. 



161 



Clear-winged Sphingidae, or Sesias. 

These are known by their transparent wings and 




Fig. 274. — Clear- winged Sesia. 

broad tails. They are seen in the daytime hovering 
over flowers, and are very beautiful. 

Peach-tree Borers. 

The Peach-tree Borer, in its winged form, resembles 
a Wasp. The general color is steel-blue, with yellow 
markings, and the male has all the 
wings transparent ; but the female has 
the fore wings blue and opaque. The 
eggs are laid upon the trunk of the 
tree, near the roots. When hatched, 
the larvae bore into and devour the Fig. 275. — Peach- 
inner bark and sap wood. When tree Borer, 
about a year old they become chrysalides, and come 
forth as moths from June to October. 

Silkworm Moths. 

These Moths have the head small, antennae generally 
feathered or toothed, tongue short, thorax woolly, and 
the fore legs hairy. Most of the caterpillars spin co- 

NAT. HIST. AN. — II 




1 62 



ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 



coons. Some of these Moths are small, and others are 
the largest of the Lepidoptera. 

One of the most elegant kinds is the Beautiful Dei- 
opeia. Its fore wings are yellow, crossed by white 




Fig. 276. —Beautiful Deiopeia. 

bands, on each of which is a row of black dots, and the 
hind wings are scarlet with an irregular black border. 

The Salt-marsh Moth expands about two inches ; the 
fore wings are white, hind wings and hind body yellow; 




Fig. 277. — Larva of Salt-marsh Moth. 



■mm 




Fig. 278. — Pupa of Salt-marsh Moth. Fig. 279. — Salt-marsh Moth. 



the wings are spotted with black, and the hind body 
has a row of black spots above, a row below, and two 
rows on each side. The female has all the wings 
white, or all light gray, with the black spots. 

The Common Silkworm is celebrated as the Insect 
which produces the greater part of all the silk used in 



LEPTDOPTERA : MOTHS. 



I6 3 



the world. It is the larva, or caterpillar, of a Moth, 
— Bombyx mori, — which expands about two inches, 
and which is of a light color, with two or three obscure 
streaks, and a spot on the upper wings. It feeds upon 
the leaves of the mulberry tree, and spins a cocoon 
about an inch and a half long, of a yellow color, and 
which contains about one thousand feet of silk. This 
Silkworm is a native of China, but is now raised ex- 
tensively in Europe, and, to some extent, in this 
country. The larvae of several other moths, most of 
them of large size, are now raised, not only in Asia, 
but also in Europe and in the United States, for the 
purpose of producing silk. 

The Cecropia Moth, the Promethea Moth, the Luna 
Moth, and the Polyphemus Moth are all large and 
magnificent species, — the largest in North America. 
They have the antennae 
broadly feathered on both 
sides, and beautiful eye-like 
spots on the wings. All 
but the Promethea expand 
five or six inches, and the 
latter expands about four 
inches. They appear in 
June. The Cecropia is dusky brown, and near the 
middle of each wing is a dull red spot with a white 
center and a narrow black edging, and beyond the spot 
a dull red band bordered on the inside with white, and 
near the tips of the fore wings is an eye-like black spot. 
The caterpillar is light green, with red and yellow 
warts covered with short bristles. The cocoon is three 
inches long, and is fastened to the side of a twig ; the 
outer coat looks like strong brown paper, and inside 




Fig. 280. — Chrysalis of Cecropia 
Moth. Cocoon reduced. 



164 



ARTHROPODS : INSECTS. 



of this is loose strong silk surrounding an inner cocoon, 
which contains the chrysalis. 

The Promethea is brown with a wavy whitish line 
near the middle, and with a wide clay-colored border 




be 



marked by a wavy reddish line, and near the tips of 
the fore wings there is an eye-like spot. The caterpil- 
lar feeds upon the sassafras tree. Before making its 
cocoon, it fastens to the twig, with silken threads, the 



LEPIDOPTERA: MOTHS. 165 

leaf that is to cover its cocoon, so that it shall not fall 
in autumn ; then it spins its cocoon on the leaf, bend- 
ing over the edges to cover it. 

The Luna, or Pale Empress of the Night, is of a 
delicate light green color ; the hind wings are pro- 
longed into a tail, and each wing has an eye-spot, which 
is transparent in the center and surrounded by rings of 
white, red, yellow, and black. The caterpillar lives on 
the walnut and hickory, and is bluish green, with a 
yellow stripe on each side, and yellow stripes across 
the body. It draws together two or three leaves and 
spins its cocoon inside of them. The cocoon falls with 
the leaves in autumn, and the next June the beautiful 
Luna appears. 

The Polyphemus Moth is reddish yellow, with a trans- 
parent eye-spot, divided by a slender line and encircled 
by yellow and black, on each wing ; on the hind 
wings adjoining the eye-spot is a large blue spot shad- 
ing into black. 

The American Tent Caterpillar Moth expands an 





Fig. 282. —Tent Caterpillar Moth. Fig. 283. — Cocoon of Fig. 282. 
inch and a half, and is reddish brown ; the fore wings 
are crossed by two oblique whitish lines. The cater- 
pillars abound in neglected orchards and upon wild 
cherry trees. The eggs from which they hatch are 
placed in a cluster on the smaller branches, and covered 
with a waterproof varnish. They hatch about the time 
the leaves unfold. The little caterpillars immediately 



l66 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

form a small tent between the forks of the branches. 
As they grow, they enlarge the tent, surrounding it 
with new layers. They feed at stated times, and return 
to their tents when they have finished eating. In crawl- 
ing from one twig to another they spin a silken thread, 
to guide them back. They rest in their tents at noon 
and in stormy weather. When full-grown, about the 
middle of June, they leave the trees, separate, wander 
about for a time, and at length, in a sheltered place, spin 
their oval and loosely woven cocoons. The meshes are 
filled with a thin paste, which becomes a yellow pow- 
der. They remain chrysalides about fifteen days. 

Geometers, or Spanworms. 

The Geometers are Moths whose caterpillars seem to 
measure the surfaces over which they pass. They are 
obliged to move in this way, because 
they usually have only ten legs, six 
true legs on the fore part of the 
body, and four prop legs at the hind 
Fig. 2S4.- Geometer, extrem i t y. Geometers live upon 

or Spanworm. 111 1 , 

trees, and let themselves down to 
the ground by a silken thread which they spin from the 
mouth while descending. When not eating, many of 
them stand on the hind legs, with the body extended, and 
in this attitude may easily be mistaken for a twig. Often 
when disturbed, they let themselves down, hang till the 
danger is past, and then climb up by the same thread. 
The Cankerworm Moth expands about an inch and 
a quarter, and the wings are large, thin, and silky. 
The females have no wings. The larvae, called Canker- 
worms, the most destructive of insects, make their ap- 




LEPIDOPTERA: MOTHS. 167 

pearance about the time the leaves of the apple tree 
begin to start from the bud. They hatch from clusters 
of eo-o-s which have been placed upon the fruit and 
shade trees at various times in and since the autumn 
before. They immediately commence to eat. They 
first pierce the leaves with small holes, but as they 
grow they enlarge these holes, and by and by little 
more is left than the midrib and veins. When not 
eating, they lie stretched at full length beneath the 
leaves. When about four weeks old they reach their 
full size, — about an inch. They now quit eating, de- 
scend to the ground, and, entering to the depth of 
a few inches, each makes a little cavity, and soon passes 
into the chrysalis state. Here they remain till after the 
first frosts of autumn, when they begin to come forth, 
mainly in the night, in the moth state, and continue to 
do so, whenever the weather is mild enough, through- 
out the remainder of the autumn and the winter. 
They rise in the greatest numbers, however, in the 
spring. The females crawl up the nearest trees, are 
joined by the males, and soon begin to lay eggs in 
rows, forming clusters of sixty to a hundred or more, 
each cluster being the product of a single female. 

Leaf Rollers. 

The Leaf Rollers are Moths which, in the caterpillar 
state, roll up the edges of leaves, fasten- 
\%/ ing them with threads of silk and leav- 

ing the ends of the roll open. The moths 
are small, with the fore wings prettily 
Fig 28s —Leaf Dan ded, and sometimes adorned with 
Roller. golden spots. 




l68 ARTHROPODS : INSECTS. 

Tineans. 

These Moths, in the larva state, gnaw winding pas- 
sages in the substances upon which they feed. They 
devour some of the fragments, and fasten together 
others with silken threads, thus making a covering for 
their tender bodies. They are the smallest of the Lepi- 
doptera, and are generally very beau- 
tiful. They enter through the cracks 
into closets, drawers, and chests, they 

Fig. 2S6. — Tinean. j .* 1 r . _« 

fo get under the edges of carpets, and 

into the folds of curtains and garments, and here de- 
posit their eggs. In about fifteen days the eggs hatch, 
and the larvae immediately begin to gnaw whatever is 
within reach, covering themselves with the fragments, 
shaping them into hollow rolls, and lining them with 
silk. They generally live in these through the sum- 
mer, become torpid in autumn, change to chrysalides 
in spring, and in twenty days come forth moths. 

Two-winged Insects, or Diptera. 

Flies, Mosquitoes, the Hessian Fly, Bee Flies, Horse- 
flies, and all their numerous relatives, have only two 
wings, the place of the hind wings being occupied by 
two small knobbed threads, called balancers. Mosqui- 
toes have a long bill composed of bristles sharper than 
the sharpest needles, with which they pierce the flesh 
of men and animals, and secure the blood upon which 
they so much delight to feed. The female lays her 
eggs on the surface of the water, and the larvae may 
be seen in great numbers, throughout the summer, in 
all stagnant pools. They are very lively, and move 
with a wriggling motion. They rest with the head 



TWO-WINGED INSECTS. 



169 



downward, and with the hind extremity of the body — 
through which they breathe — at the surface of the 
water. At length they shed their skins and enter 
upon the pupa state, in which they live at the surface 





Fig. 2S7. — Horsefly. 



Fig. 2SS. — Bee Fly. 





Fig. 2S9. — Asilus Fly 



Fig. 290. — Horse Botfly. 



of the water, and breathe through two tubes on the 
thorax. In a few days the skin splits on the back, the 
winged insect appears, and, after resting awhile on its 
empty skin as it floats upon the water, spreads its 
wings, and, flies away in search of a victim. 



Hessian Fly and Wheat Fly. 

The Hessian Fly expands about one fourth of an 
inch, and has the head, antennae, and thorax black, 
the wings blackish and fringed with short hairs. The 
hind body is tawny, with black on each ring; the legs 
are brownish, and feet black. Two broods appear in a 




170 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

year, — one in spring and one in autumn. The females 
lay their eggs on the young blades of wheat, both in 
spring and fall. The eggs are only about one fiftieth 
of an inch in length, pale red, and 
they hatch in about four days, pro- 
ducing pale red maggots. The 
larvae immediately crawl down the 
leaf till they come to a joint. 
Here they rest a little below the 
surface of the ground till they have 
undergone their transformations. 

They injure the plant by sucking 
Fig. 291. -Hessian Fly. its sap> The j arvae reach their 

growth in five or six weeks, and are then covered with a 
hardening, brown or chestnut-colored skin, and the insect 
is then said to be in the flaxseed state, from its resem- 
blance to a flaxseed. In April and May they complete 
their transformations, come forth in the winged state, 
and soon begin to lay their eggs upon the spring wheat, 
and upon that sown the autumn before. The maggots 
hatched from these eggs pass down the stem as before 
stated, take the flaxseed form in June or July, and in 
autumn most of them are transformed into winged 
insects ; others remain in the ground through the win- 
ter, and are transformed in the spring, as before stated. 
These flies sometimes move in immense swarms in 
search of fields of their favorite grain where they may 
lay their eggs. The Hessian Fly received its name 
from the incorrect belief that it was brought to this 
country in straw by Hessian troops at the time of the 
Revolutionary War. 

The American Wheat Fly is about one tenth of an 
inch long, orange-colored ; wings transparent, eyes black 



TWO-WINGED INSECTS. 171 

and prominent ; antennae long and blackish, those of 
the male being twice as long as the body, and con- 
sisting of twenty-four joints, and those of the female 
about as long as the body, and consisting of twelve 
joints. The Wheat Flies, in their perfect form, ap- 
pear between the first of June and the last of August. 
They often move in immense swarms, taking wing in 
the morning and evening, and in cloudy weather, at 
which times they lay their eggs in the opening flowers 
of the grain, — barley, rye, and oats, as well as wheat. 
The eggs hatch in about eight days, producing little 
yellow maggots, which are found within the chaffy 
scales of the grain. The eggs are laid at different 
times, so that all do not come to maturity together; 
but they appear to come to their growth in about four- 
teen days. They prey upon wheat in blossom and in 
the milk, and do not touch the kernel after it has be- 
come hard. At length they cease eating, and soon after 
shed their skins, after which they become active again, 
and in a few days descend to the ground. Here they 
burrow, remain through the winter as larvae, become 
pupae in early summer, and in a few days assume the 
winged state. 

Horseflies. 

These are generally large Flies, having a proboscis 
inclosing very sharp lancets, with which they readily 
pierce the skin of horses and cattle, in order to suck 
their blood. They have very large eyes, occupying 
nearly the whole head. There are several species, 
and some of the largest are nearly an inch long. The 
larvae live in the ground. Figure 287. 



172 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

Asilus Flies. 

These are very long-bodied Flies, and are covered 
with stiff hairs. They are very rapacious, seizing and 
bearing away other insects. In the larva state they 
live in the roots of plants. One kind feeds upon the 
roots of the pieplant, or rhubarb, of the gardens. Figure 
289 shows a common kind of Asilus. 

Bee Flies. 

These Flies are so named from their general resem- 
blance to Bees. They have a very long proboscis. 
They frequent sunny places in the woods, in the 
spring, and fly swiftly, but stop every little while and 
balance themselves in one place in the air. 

Botflies. 

These Flies, in the larva state, live in various parts 
of the body of the ox, horse, and sheep, and occasion 
great suffering, and sometimes death, to these useful 
animals. One kind of Botfly lays its eggs upon the 
fore legs of the horse, another upon the lips, another 
upon the neck ; by biting the parts, the horse swallows 
the eggs, and the young hatch and cling to the walls 
of the stomach. The Ox Botfly lays its eggs on the 
back of cattle, and the larvae live in burrows in the 
skin. The Sheep Botfly lays its eggs in the nostrils of 
the sheep and the larvae crawl into the head, and often 
cause death. Figure 290 is the Horse Botfly. 

Beetles, or Coleoptera. 

Beetles are Insects whose forward or upper wings are 
hard and horn-like, and meet in a straight line along 



BEETLES. 173 

the top of the back ; and there is generally a little tri- 
angular piece between the bases of the wings, called the 
scutellum. The hind, or under wings, are thin, and 
when the insect is not flying are folded and concealed 
by the horn-like upper wings. The colors of Beetles 
are often exceedingly beautiful and brilliant, rivaling 
even those of precious stones and of birds. 

Beetles have two pairs of jaws, which move sidewise, 
by means of which they bite their food, which in some 
cases consists of other insects, in others of leaves or 
other parts of plants. In the larva state, Beetles are 
called grubs. The kinds are very numerous, probably 
not less than a hundred thousand in all. 

Tiger Beetles. 

These are very common in warm sandy places, and 
may be seen in the roads in the country every pleas- 






Fig. 293.— Larva of 
Tiger Beetle. 

Fig. 292. — Common Fig. 294. — Hairy-necked 

Tiger Beetle. Tiger Beetle. 

ant day. They are very beautifully and often splen- 
didly colored, and have a large head, large eyes, and 
toothed jaws. They run rapidly, and fly when ap- 
proached, but soon alight again. They devour great 



174 



ARTHROPODS : INSECTS. 



numbers of other insects for food, thus benefiting the 
farmer and gardener. The larvae or grubs, are soft, 
white, and furnished with jaws like the adults ; like 
the latter, they feed on other insects, which they se- 
cure by digging holes in the ground, in which they 
remain, the head just closing the opening of the hole ; 
when some insect comes near enough, they seize it, 
draw it into the hole, and devour it. 

Ground Beetles, or Carabidae. 

These also prey upon other insects, and the kinds 
are very numerous. They have the jaws very long 
and hooked, and very long legs. Some of them have 
no under wings. One kind is called the Caterpillar 




Fig. 295. — Caterpillar Hunter. 

Hunter, because it destroys so many larvae of other in- 
sects. It eats great numbers of the Cankerworm, the 
most destructive insect which has appeared upon our 
beautiful fruit and shade trees, and which is described 
on page 166. It appears about the time the Canker- 



BEETLES. 



75 



worms leave the trees and come to the ground. The 
Glowing Caterpillar Hunter is a smaller kind, and is 
black, with six rows of sunken, brilliant red spots. 



Water Beetles. 

These Beetles live in the water, and their long hind 
legs are well fitted for swimming, being fringed on 
their inner side. They are very vora- 
cious, and devour other insects, and, in 
some cases, young fishes. Some of the 
species are more than an inch long. 
The Whirligig Beetles which are found 
on the surface of still waters, where 
they look like brilliant spots gliding in 
all sorts of curves, are much smaller, 
and belong to another family. 




Fig. 296. — Water 
Beetle. 



Carrion Beetles. 

Carrion Beetles live together in great numbers in 
the bodies of decaying animals. Some kinds have the 
habit of burying the small animals which they find 
dead, and it is remarkable how quickly 
they find out where such animals are. 
If a dead frog, or mouse, or bird is 
placed upon the ground, these beetles 
will be seen about it in a few hours ; 
and beginning to dig beneath it, they 
soon sink it out of sight. The females 
then lay their eggs in it, so that when 
the young hatch they find themselves 
amidst a supply of suitable food. 




Fig. 297. — Carrion 
Beetle. 



176 



ARTHROPODS : INSECTS. 



Rove Beetles. 

These are long and narrow, with stout 
jaws, and the hind body much longer 
than the wing-covers. When they run 
they raise the hind body and move it in 
different directions. They are found 
about decaying substances. The larvae 
closely resemble the perfect insect. 




Fig. 298. — Rove 
Beetle. 



Horn Bugs. 

Horn Bugs are Beetles which have the body very 
hard and oblong, the thorax and head very large, and 
the upper jaws large and often curved and branched. 




Fig. 299. — Horn Bug. 

They keep in hiding in the daytime, and fly about at 
night. In the adult state they eat the leaves of trees ; 
but the grubs live in the trunks and roots of trees, 
sometimes for six years before they become Beetles. 

Scarabseidae 

The Beetles known as Scarabseidae have the antennae 
ending in a knob made up of three or more leaf- 



BEETLES. 177 

shaped pieces, a sort of plate which extends forward 
over the face like the visor of a boy's cap, and 
their legs toothed on the outer sides, thus fitted 
for digging. Some live on the ground and are 
called Ground Beetles ; others live upon trees, whose 
leaves they eat, and are called Tree Beetles ; others 
feed upon the sweets of flowers, and are called 
Flower Beetles. Some kinds are very large, as the 
Hercules Beetles of South America, which are five 





Fig. 300. — Goldsmith Beetle. Fig. 301. — Phanaeus. 

inches long. Many are brilliantly colored, and the 
Phanaeus has a horn-like projection on the head. The 
May Beetles are brown-colored Scarabaeidae, which, at- 
tracted by the light, fly into our rooms in the early 
part of summer ; in the grub state they live in the 
ground, and are white, with a brownish head. The 
Goldsmith Beetle is of a beautiful golden color above, 
and copper color, with whitish wool, below. It feeds 
upon leaves, among which it hides by day, flying in the 
morning and evening twilight. The Spotted Pelidnota 
is found on the grapevine in July and August. It is 
about an inch long, brownish-yellow above, with three 
black dots on each wing-cover, and one on each side of 
the thorax. 

Many of these Beetles not only injure the foliage of 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 12 



78 



ARTHROPODS : INSECTS. 



shrubs and trees, but in their grub, or larva, state they 
devour the roots of grasses and other plants, and thus 
do immense injury to the crops. Fortunately, the 
crow and many other animals devour them eagerly. 

Buprestidans. 



These Beetles, in the larva state, 
live in the trunks of trees, eating 
holes in all directions, and injure the 
trees. Different kinds bore the 
peach, plum, oak, and pine. The 
perfect Beetles are long and very 
solid, with a sunken head, and often 
with metallic colors. 



Spring or Snap Beetles, or Elaters. 




Fig. 302 



When placed upon the back, these Beetles at once 
with a snap and a jerk, throw 
themselves upwards ; and they re- 
peat the operation till they come 
down right side up. They per- 
form this feat by means of a spine- 
like organ situated on the under 
side of the breast. Spring Beetles 
vary from half an inch to two 
inches in length, and the head is 
almost concealed in the thorax. 
One of the most curious kinds has 
two eye-like spots on the thorax, 
as seen in Figure 303. 

Some of the Elaters, and others closely related to 
them, give out a brilliant light at night, and are known 




Fig. 303- — Eyed Spring 
Beetle. 



BEETLES. 



1/9 



as Fireflies. They are common in meadows in sum- 
mer. Some of the tropical kinds emit such a brilliant 
phosphorescence, that a few of them placed in a glass 
vessel give light enough for a person to read by. 

Curculios, or Weevils. 

These Beetles are hard, generally rather small, some 
being minute, and in most cases they have a long, 
slender snout. In some, however, the fore part of the 
head is broad. They feign death when disturbed, and, 




I 

Fig. 304. — Plum 
Weevil. 





Fig. 305. — Rice 
Weevil. 



Fig. 306. — Pea 
Weevil. 





fig. 307. — White Pine Weevil. Fig. 30S. — Long-snouted Weevil. 

if upon a tree, fall to the ground and remain motion- 
less till all is quiet. The Pea Weevil lays its eggs on 
the pea blossoms, and the grub enters the pea through 
the green pod, and remains there till the next spring, 
when it comes out as a perfect beetle or weevil. The 
Baltimore Oriole splits open the pods for the sake of 
obtaining the grubs contained in the peas. The White 



i8o 



ARTHROPODS : INSECTS. 



Pine Weevil, in the larva state, lives in the trunk of 
the pine, in which it cuts passages in various direc- 
tions. The Long-snouted Nut Weevil, in the larva 
state, lives in nuts. The Plum Weevil, when shaken 
from the tree, looks like a dried bud. This weevil 
makes a crescent-shaped wound on the surface of the 
plum, in which it lays an egg; from the egg there 
hatches a whitish grub, which burrows into the plum, 
even to the stone. The Rice Weevil feeds upon rice, 
wheat, and Indian corn. It is about one tenth of an 
inch long, with two red spots on each wing-cover. 

Long-horned, or Capricorn, Beetles. 

These Beetles have very long and generally curved 
antennae. When caught they make a squeaking sound, 








Fig. 309. — Painted 
Clytus. 



Fig. 310. — Larva of 
Apple Borer. 



Fig. 311. —Apple 
Borer. 



by rubbing together the joints of the thorax and hind 
body. In the larva state they live in the trunks of 
trees and in timber, and are called borers. As they eat 
their way into the timber they fill the passages behind 
them with their cuttings. Some, however, as the 
Apple Borer, keep the ends of their burrows open, out 
of which they cast their chips. They remain in the 
larva state from one to three years. 



HEMIPTERA: CICADAS. 



81 




Fig. 312. — Broad-necked Prionus — a Capricorn Beetle. 

Chrysomela and Ladybirds. 

These are either egg-shaped or hemispherical, and 
are remarkable for their beautiful colors. The first are 




Fig. 313. — Ladder Fig. 314. —Cucumber Bee- Fig. 315. — Lady- 
Chrysomelan. tie — a Chrysomelan. bird. 

blue, green, or golden; the latter are black, red, or 
yellow, with dark spots. The Ladybirds devour plant 
lice, and are thus of great benefit to the gardener. 

Bugs, Cicadas, and Tree Hoppers, or Hemiptera. 

These Insects have a slender, horny beak, which, 
when not in use, lies upon the breast under the body. 

Cicadas, or Harvest Flies. 

The Cicadas, or Harvest Flies, have a very large 
head, large eyes, three minute eyes on the top of 
the head, and their wings are large, thin, and very 



1 82 



ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 



distinctly veined. The males make a very loud buz- 
zing sound by means of curious organs resembling 
kettledrums, one being placed on each side of the 
hind body, near the thorax. The ancient Greeks loved 
to hear the buzzing of the cicadas, and kept them in 
cages that they might enjoy their rude music. These 
people also ate cicadas. The females have a very 
curious piercer for making holes in trees, in which to 
lay their eggs. This piercer consists of three pieces, 
the two outer ones grooved on the inside and toothed 
on the outside like a saw, and a central borer which 
plays in the groove formed by the outer two. 




Fig. 316. — Seventeen Year Cicada. 

The Seventeen Year Cicada is about an inch long, 
the general color black, with the eyes, larger veins, and 




Fig. 317- — Dogday Cicada, or Harvest Fly. 
forward edges of the wings red. This is generally 



HEMIPTERA: TREE HOPPERS. 183 

called the Seventeen Year Locust, but it is in no sense 
a Locust, and should not be called by this name. The 
name ''Seventeen Year" is given to it from the belief 
that it appears in the same place only once in seven- 
teen years. 

The Dogday Harvest Fly is over an inch long, the 
body black above, marked with green, and the under 
side covered with a white substance resembling flour. 
It appears at the beginning of the dog days, and its sing- 
ing may be heard among the trees through the middle 
of the day. The pupae of this species and of the Sev- 
enteen Year Cicada, as they come out of the ground 
and crawl up the trees, look like Beetles. Soon the 
pupa skin splits on the top of the back, and from the 
opening thus made the perfect insect comes forth, 
leaving the brown pupa skin attached firmly to the 
tree, and at a little distance looking as when alive. 

Tree Hoppers. 

These Insects are remarkable for their curious and 
often grotesque shapes. They live on the sap of trees 




Fig. 318. — Tree Hopper. Fig. 319. — Same enlarged. 

and herbs, and imbibe it in such quantities that it 
oozes out of the body, often concealing the insect in a 
mass of frothy matter or foam. Figure 318 shows a 
common kind, as seen when looking upon its back ; 
Figure 319 is the same in profile, considerably enlarged. 




1 84 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

Plant Lice, or Aphides. 

These Insects have the body short, and at the hind 
extremity there are two little tubes, from which come 
minute drops of a very sweet fluid. Aphides inhabit 
all kinds of plants, the leaves and softer portions being 
often completely covered with them. 
The young are hatched in the spring, 
and soon come to maturity, and, what 
i ' ( ) is remarkable, the whole brood consists 

Fig. 320. — Aphis. Q f w i n gless females; and what is still 
more remarkable, these females bring forth living 
young, each female producing fifteen or twenty in a 
day. These young are also wingless females, and at 
maturity bring forth living young, which are also all 
wingless females, and in their turn bring forth living 
young ; and in this way brood after brood is produced, 
even to the fourteenth generation, in a single season. 
But the last brood in autumn contains both males and 
females, which stock the plants with eggs, and then 
perish. Reaumur, a celebrated naturalist, has proved 
that a single Aphis, in five generations, may have about 
six thousand millions of descendants ! Wherever Plant 
Lice abound, ants collect to feed upon the honey-like 
fluid produced by them ; and the most friendly rela- 
tions exist between these two kinds of insects. An 
Aphis has been known to give in succession a drop 
of the fluid to each of a number of ants. 

Scorpion Bugs. 

These Bugs live in the water, and can sting severely. 
They devour other insects, which they seize with their 
fore legs, which act as pincers. 



STRAIGHT-WINGED INSECTS. 



■85 



&Z^ 





Fig. 321. —Scorpion Bug, or Nepa. Fig. 322. — Squash Bug. 

Squash Bugs. 

The Squash Bug passes the winter in a torpid state, 
and when the leaves of the squash appear it lays its 
eggs in clusters on the under side of them. 

Straight-winged Insects, or Orthoptera. 

These Insects have wings which lie straight along 
the top or sides of the back. They do not pass through 
the larva and pupa states, but the young are constantly 
active, feeding and growing, and differ from the adults 
in size, in having only rudiments of wings, and in fre- 
quently changing their skins. They shed their skins 
six times, and then come forth perfect insects. 

Earwigs. 

These Insects have a pair of sharp-pointed nippers 
at the hind part of the body, which they can open and 





Fig- 323. — Earwig. 



Fig. 324. — Cockroach. 



1 86 



ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 



shut like a pair of scissors. They are found under 
stones and under the bark of old trees, and fly only 
at night. They are believed by some, probably with- 
out reason, to crawl into people's ears. 

Cockroaches. 

Cockroaches are found in forests, and some species 
infest kitchens, storerooms, and closets, devouring all 
kinds of food, and even clothes. Figure 324 shows a 
kind common here, although it originated in Asia. 

Walking Sticks and Walking Leaves. 

The Walking Sticks are Insects which look like dry 
twigs ; and the Walking Leaves have wings that look 
almost precisely like leaves. They belong mostly to 




Fig 3 2 5- — Walking Stick. 

the warm parts of the globe, but several kinds of Walk- 
ing Stick are found in the United States. They are 
from three or four inches to a foot long. Figure 325 
shows one of our common species, about half size. 

The Mantis. 

The Mantis is a grasshopper-like Insect which has 
the fore legs suited for seizing and holding prey. It is 



STRAIGHT-WINGED INSECTS. 



I8 7 



found upon plants and trees, where it sits for hours, 
holding up its fore legs, ready to seize any insect which 




Fig. 326. — American Mantis. 

comes within reach. Some of the superstitious inhabi- 
tants of the East believe that at such times the Mantis 
is engaged in religious devotions. Figure 326 repre- 
sents the only kind found in the United States. 

Crickets. 

Crickets have a flattened body, long antennas, and 
long appendages behind. The males chirrup to attract 
their mates, and this familiar sound 
is often heard throughout the night. 
It is produced by rubbing the wings 
against one another. The most com- 
mon Crickets of the fields are dark- 
colored, but some, like the Climbing 
Crickets, are white. The Mole Crick- 
ets have fore feet resembling those 
of the Mole, and well adapted for 
digging. They burrow in the ground, 
and prey upon other insects. Some kinds of Crickets 
take up their abode in houses, and the sound of " the 
cricket on the hearth " is a familiar one to people who 
live in the country. 




Fig. 327. — White 
Climbing Cricket. 



88 



ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 




Fig. 328. — Mole Cricket. 

Locusts. 

These are grasshopper-like Insects which have very 
long antennae, a long ovipositor, and many of them 




Fig. 329. — Katydid. 

produce a grating noise by rubbing their wing-covers 
together. They are known as Katydids, Leaf-winged 
Grasshoppers, Sword Bearers, and Meadow Grasshop- 
pers. None are more interesting than the Katydids, 
whose curious notes are heard at early twilight or on 
moonlight evenings, and in cloudy days, throughout 



PSEUDOXEUROPTERA: MAYFLIES. 1 89 

the autumn. These insects are about an inch and a 
half long, and the wings shut around the body like the 
two valves of a peapod. They produce sounds resem- 
bling the words " Katy did." A thin membrane is 
stretched in a strong frame, in the over-lapping part of 
each wing-cover. The rubbing together of these frames 
as the wings are opened and shut, makes the sounds. 

Migratory Locusts. 

These are grasshopper-like Insects having short 
antennae, and no long ovipositor. The kinds are many ; 
some tropical ones are three or four inches long. The 
most common grasshoppers of the United States belong 




Fig. 330. — Clouded Locust. 

in this group, and are familiarly known as the Red- 
legged Locust, Carolina Locust, Coral-winged Locust, 
Yellow-winged Locust, and Clouded Locust. 

PSEUDONEUROPTERA. 

The following insects have netted-wings and were 
formerly placed with the Neuroptera, or Lacewings. 
In the larva state, they live in the water. 

May Flies, or Ephemera. 

Though these insects live only for a few hours or a 
day in the perfect state, their existence in the larva 



I90 ARTHROPODS: INSECTS. 

and semi-pupa states extends through two or three 
years, and all this time they live in the water. When 





Fig. 33 1 — Stone Fly, half natural size. Fig. 332. — May Fly. 

ready for their final changes, the pupae crawl to the 
surface, cast off the pupa skin, and appear at first to 
be fully developed ; this is the sub-imago state ; they 
then fly with difficulty to the shore, affix themselves 
to plants and trees, and cast off a very delicate cover- 
ing. After this the wings are brighter, and the tails 
longer. May Flies appear in such immense swarms 
in some parts of Europe, that the people collect their 
dead bodies into heaps to enrich the land. They are 
common in this country. One of our species is shown 
in Figure 332. 

Dragon Fiies, or Darning Needles. 

These Insects have a long body, large, lustrous, gauze- 
like wings, a large head, and very large eyes. They at 
once arrest our attention by their large size, light and 
graceful form, variegated colors, and the great veloc- 
ity with which they speed their way over fields and 



NET-NY [NGED I N SECTS. 



9 I 



meadows, or skim the surface of the pools or ponds in 
search of flies, mosquitoes, and other insects, upon 




Fig. 333- — Dragon Fly. 

which they feed. In the larva and pupa states they 
live in the water, and are rather long, broad, and flat, 
with long, sprawling legs, and they crawl about, or 
propel themselves by ejecting water from a cavity 
situated at the hind part of their body. They are very 
voracious, devouring other insects and even one an- 
other. When the time comes for the last change, they 
crawl up the stems of plants, and, having withdrawn 
from the pupa skin which remains clinging to the 
plant, and dried themselves, they spread their wings 
and dart swiftly away. Though they bite fiercely with 
their jaws, they have no sting, and are harmless to man. 

Net-winged Insects, or Neuroptera. 
Corydalus. 

The Horned Corydalus expands five or six inches, 
and the male has two long, horn-like pincers. 



192 



ARTHROPODS : INSECTS. 





Fig. 334- Fig, 335- 

Larva and perfect insect of Horned Corydalus. One half natural size. 

Lacewings, or Ant-lions. 

The Ant-lion is so called because, in the larva state, 
it preys upon ants and other insects, which it secures 
in the following manner : it makes a pitfall, or cavity, 







>r^ 



Fig. 336. — Am lion. 





Fig. 337. — Larva of Ant-lion, 
Enlarged. 



Fig. 338. — Pitfall of Ant-lion. 



Figure 338, at the bottom of which it conceals itself, 
excepting its jaws, and there awaits its prey. When- 



SPIDERS. 193 

ever an insect falls into the pit, the Ant-lion seizes and 
devours it. 

Caddice Flies. 

These Insects are the most interesting while in the 
larva state. They live at the bottom of ponds and 




Caddice Fly 



streams, in cases which they construct of bits of wood 
or grasses, of grains of sand, or of fragments of broken 
shells, and which are lined with silk spun from their 
mouths. They sometimes load one side of the case with 
heavier pieces, in order to keep that side downward. 



SPIDERS AND SCORPIONS, OR ARACHNIDS. 

Spiders. 

Spiders have the body divided into only two well- 
marked portions, — the head and the hind body. They 
have eight legs, and two palpi or feelers resembling 
legs, but no wings, and do not change form from the 
young to the adult state. Most kinds feed upon insects. 

Many Spiders have, at the hind part of their body, a 
most wonderful organ, called the spinneret, by which 
the delicate threads of the spider web are spun. It 
consists of four to six knobs, with a thousand or more 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 13 



194 ARTHROPODS: ARACHNIDS. 

holes in each knob. Through these the invisible silken 
threads pass out, — more than four thousand at a time, 
— and at a little distance from the knobs all these 
unite into one, forming the single line of spider web 
which all are so familiar with. As the threads issue 
from the knobs they are a sticky fluid, — which has 




Fig. 3-jo. — Spider — Lycosa. 

been secreted in little bags in the abdomen ; but this 
hardens into silk as soon as it comes to the air. The 
length of the line which the Spider is able to produce is 
truly wonderful. Dr. Wilder wound nearly two miles 
of silk, in less than a day, from his celebrated Nephila 
plwnipcs, — a Spider which he discovered in South Car- 
olina. The kinds of Spider are very numerous, and 
most of them spin some sort of a net-like web, in or 
near which they live, and by means of which they cap- 
ture insects for food. The House Spider spreads a flat 
net in the corners of rooms. The Geometric Spider 
spreads a vertical net, which is made in the most beau- 
tiful manner, radiating lines running from the center, 



SPIDERS. 195 

like the spokes of a wheel, and these connected by a 
spiral line, which at a little distance gives the appear- 
ance of lines arranged in circles from the center out- 
wards. Some kinds of Spider have, near the principal 
web, a silken retreat, or den, where the owner hides 
till the quivering spider lines which run into its office 
telegraph the fact that a fly has become entangled ; 
instantly the spider rushes out of its retreat, pounces 
upon the victim, and bites it, if possible, putting into 
the wound a fatal poison. If the insect is too power- 
ful for the spider, the latter waits till the insect gets 
more entangled, and finally exhausted, by its efforts to 
escape, then binds it with silken bands, and begins to 
devour it. The bite of an ordinary spider will kill a 
fly ; the bite of some of the large kinds in South 
America kills the humming bird. The female spiders 
lay eggs and inclose them in silken sacs. Some kinds 
carry the egg-sac about with them ; others spin it in a 
safe place, and, in some instances, stay near to guard 
it, and to tear open the egg-sac as soon as the young 
are hatched, that they may escape. One of the most 
curious of these egg-sacs is that shown in Figure 341, 



Fig. 341. — Egg-case of a Spider (the Vase-maker). 

and which was made by some Spider which may 
properly be called the Vase-maker. Two " vases," like 
the one in the woodcut, were found standing about a 



196 ARTHROPODS: ARACHNIDS. 

foot apart on the stem of a grapevine. The outside of 
the vase looks like brown paper, or it is in appearance 
and in toughness like the outside of the cocoon of the 
Cecropia Moth; the vase is fastened to the vine by 
a vast number of threads of silk passing from one side 
of the vase to the other around the vine, and the 
threads are so nicely arranged that the vase cannot 
turn nor slip from its place. On opening this curious 
structure, it was found to be filled with the finest silk 
and a great number of newly-hatched spiders. 

Scorpions. 

The Scorpions are confined to warm regions, and 
live among ruins of buildings, under rubbish, and some- 
times in houses. They have a long body ending in a 




Fig 342. — Scorpion. 

curved, sharp sting, with which they inflict painful 
wounds, which may be dangerous or even sometimes 
fatal. They can run quite rapidly, and can bend the 
hind body or tail in any direction, and use it both for 
attack and defence. The form above is found in Texas. 



TEN-FOOTED CRUSTACEANS. I97 

CENTIPEDES, OR MYRIAPODS. 

These are long and worm-like, and divided into very- 
numerous rings or joints ; each joint generally bears 
two pairs of feet. In the temperate zones they are 




Fig. 343. — American Myriapod, Fig. 344. — American Earwig, 

or Galley Worm. or Lithobius. 

only two or three inches long ; tropical species are 
sometimes a foot long, and their bite is often very 
poisonous. 

CRUSTACEANS. 

These Arthropods have a crust or shell, the head and 
thorax often united into one piece ; they live in the 
water and breathe by gills. Some kinds, however, 
live upon the land. They feed upon all sorts of animal 
food, and shed and renew their shells many times. 

Crabs, Lobsters and Shrimps, or Ten-footed 
Crustaceans. 

Crabs can walk forward, backward, and sidewise. 
The tail, or hind body, is small, and is doubled under 
the forward part of the body, where it fits into a groove. 
The kinds of Crab are very numerous, and some are 
found on every seacoast. They vary in size from that 
of a penny to those which, with the legs outspread, 
cover a space a yard square. Some kinds are very 
much prized for food ; the one shown in Figure 347 



9 8 



ARTHROPODS : CRUSTACEANS. 



is sold in great numbers in the markets of New- 
York and Philadelphia. Hermit Crabs have the hind 
part of the body long, soft, and tapering, and they 
take up their abode in empty univalve shells, which 





F>'g 345— Fiddler Crab. 



Fig- 346. — Bait Shrimp. 




Fig- 347- — American Edible Crab. 



they drag about with them wherever they go, and 
they look as though they were the real and original 
owners of the houses which they live in. When a 
Hermit Crab becomes too large for the shell which it 



TEN-FOOTED CRUSTACEANS. 1 99 

has chosen for its home, it abandons it, and begins its 
search for a new one, inserting itself backwards into 
one shell after another till one is found which suits it. 
When not moving about, or when alarmed, it retreats 
as far as possible into the shell, and closes the opening 
with its larger claw. 

Lobsters and Shrimps have the hind body, often 
called the tail, large and long, and generally turned 
forward, as seen in Figure 348. The American Lob- 
ster is from one to two feet long, and weighs from 
three to ten pounds or more. It is very abundant on 
the coast of New England, and great numbers are 
caught in lobster pots baited with fish, and are sold in 
the markets of Boston, New York, and other cities. 

Two of the forward leg-like appendages of Lobsters 
are greatly enlarged, and end in powerful claws or 
pincers. One of these is provided with blunt teeth, 
or tubercles, suited for crushing shells, and the other 
with exceedingly sharp teeth suited for biting. So 
powerful are these organs that with them a Lobster 
can easily bite off a man's ringer ; and if one were to 
get hold of your hand, you could release it only by 
breaking off the Lobster's claw. The fisherman, well 
knowing their biting powers and habits, puts a wooden 
plug into the joints of their pincers, so that they can 
not open them ; if this were not done, the lobsters, 
when confined in the lobster car, — a large box in the 
water where lobsters are kept after they are caught, — 
would bite off the limbs of one another. In crawling 
the lobster moves rather slowly, but sometimes, by a 
single stroke of its powerful tail or hind body, it darts 
through the water, backwards, a distance of fifteen or 
twenty feet, with the swiftness of an arrow. When a 



200 



ARTHROPODS : CRUSTACEANS. 



Lobster or other Crustacean loses a leg or other organ, 
another like it grows to supply its place. But one of 
the most remarkable facts about Lobsters and other 
Crustaceans is, that from time to time they shed the 
shell in one piece, so that the cast-off shell looks ex- 
actly like the perfect animal, — antennae, eyes, jaws, 
legs, paddles, and even every hair, are all just as they 
were when they covered the live Lobster. The Lobster 




Fig. 348. — American Lobster. 



comes out of its shell through a rent on the back, and 
is at first very soft ; it at once increases in size, and 
in a few days its skin becomes as hard as the shell 
which it cast off. This shedding of the shell is neces- 
sary for the growth of this animal, for after the new 
shell hardens further growth is impossible. When a 
Lobster is ready to shed its shell, there are two hard, 
stone-like bodies at the sides of the stomach, and it is 
supposed that these furnish a part of the solid matter 



FOURTEEN-FOOTED CRUSTACEANS. 



201 



for the new shell ; for they immediately begin to grow 
smaller after the moulting, and soon entirely disappear. 
The Crawfish, or Fresh-water Lobster, much resem- 
bles the American Lobster, but is only three or four 
inches long, and lives in streams and lakes. One kind 
is common on the western prairies ; it lives in holes 
which it digs in the ground deep enough to find water. 

Sand Fleas, etc., or Fourteen-footed Crustaceans. 

Beach, or Sand, Fleas are little shrimp-like Crusta- 
ceans, common on the seabeach. They have seven 





Fig. 349. — Sand Flea. 



Hi 

Fig- 350. — Trilobite 



pairs of feet. Imbedded in the rocks are found the 
curious, closely related Trilobites, which lived ages ago. 

Barnacles and Horseshoe Crabs. 



The Barnacles are of many kinds. Some resemble 
bivalve shells, and grow in clusters, attached by stems, 
as seen in Figure 351 ; others, as in Figure 352, are 
acorn-shaped, and are fixed directly upon the rocks, 
shells, lobsters, or ship-bottoms. They are all pro- 
vided with feather-like arms or feet, which they regu- 



202 



ARTHROPODS : CRUSTACEANS. 



larly protrude and withdraw, — a sort of grasping 
motion as though they would secure any little animals 
or particles of food that might be within their reach. 
Some kinds of Acorn Barnacles completely cover the 
rocks between high and low water mark ; others de- 
light in deep water. In long voyages Barnacles some- 
times become so numerous on the bpttom of a vessel 
as to seriously hinder its progress. Although in the 
adult state Barnacles, or Cirripeds, are fixed and sta- 
tionary, the young swim freely about. 




Fig- 35 1 - — Duck Barnacle. 



Fig. 353- — Horseshoe Crab. 



The Horseshoe Crab is found on the Atlantic coast 
of the United States and on the coast of Eastern Asia. 
Some are two feet in length, and in all cases the body 
ends in a sharp spine, which some of the savage tribes 
use for spear points. This curious Crab walks and eats 
with the same organs, — the lower part of the first six 
pairs of legs being used for walking, and the upper 
parts of the same legs being provided with teeth-like 
organs, and used for jaws. 



MOLLUSKS. 



203 



MOLLUSKS. OR SOFT-BODIED ANIMALS. 

The term Mollusk comes from a word which means 
soft, and these animals have a soft body with no 
backbone nor internal skeleton ; nor is the body di- 
vided into rings or joints, as in the Arthropods and 
Worms. Most of them have a hard covering called a 
shell, and are often called shellfish ; but they are in 
no way related to Fishes. The shells are the parts 
which we oftenest see ; for when the animal is dead, 
the soft parts soon disappear, and only the shell 
remains. Curious and wonderful as the shells are, 
they often give only the faintest idea of the appear- 
ance of the animals when alive. See the differences 




Fig. 354. — Helix. Alive. 

between Figures 354 and 355, where the first repre- 
sents the shell alive and the animal expanded, the 
second the shell as when dead, 
or when the animal is concealed 
in the shell. It is important to 
know that the shell is a part of 
the animal and not a mere house 
which it enters and leaves at 
pleasure ; although it readily ex- Fi s- 355- — Helix. Dead, 
pands much beyond the limits of the shell, and with- 




204 MOLLUSKS. 

draws itself wholly within the same again. Mollusks 
have, in a greater or less degree, the senses of the 
higher animals, though they greatly differ among 
themselves in this respect. 

The kinds of Mollusks are very numerous, — not less 
than fifteen or twenty thousand. They abound in 
the sea, on the marshes, in pools, streams, ponds, and 
lakes, and on the land ; and they are full of interest 
when we study them, and all serve some important 
purpose. They are the food of many other animals. 
The Right Whale feeds upon small kinds which swim 
freely in the open sea ; the Cod and Haddock and 
many other useful fishes fatten upon those gathered 
near or on the bottom ; and sea birds feast upon 
those left bare by the tide. Man reckons the Oyster, 
Clam, and Scallop among his choicest dishes ; and in 
seasons of scarcity the poor inhabitants on many a 
seacoast depend upon Mollusks for a large part of their 
daily food. These animals also furnish the bait for all 
the extensive fisheries of the north Atlantic. Some 
of them yield rich dyes. The celebrated Tyrian pur- 
ple of the ancients was obtained from sea snails. 

The shells of Mollusks are of limestone, or carbonate 
of lime. Pearly within, and of soft and delicate colors, 
they are often exceedingly beautiful, and are eagerly 
sought for. The child gathers them for toys, and 
thinks he hears the roaring of the sea as he puts them 
to his ear; the savage wears them as ornaments, and 
some of them as marks of chieftainship ; some kinds 
are gathered by civilized nations and used instead of 
money in trading with barbarous tribes ; other kinds 
are gathered and wrought by skillful hands into almost 
numberless articles of use and luxury ; and the true 



CEPHALOPODS. 205 

naturalist, more enthusiastic than all others, traverses 
sea and land, and cheerfully endures hunger, thirst, and 
fatigue, that his collection of shells may lack neither 
Argonaut nor Nautilus, Cone, Cowrie nor Wentletrap, 
Helix nor Limnaeid, Pecten, Mother-of-pearl nor Unio, 
nor any other which will enable him to understand more 
clearly this department of the animal kingdom, and 
the works of God as revealed in these wonderful objects. 

ARGONAUTS, CUTTLEFISHES AND SQUIDS, OR 
CEPHALOPODS. 

These animals all live in the ocean, have a mouth 
armed with a stout beak, resembling that of a Par- 
rot, a large eye on each side of the head, and sur- 
rounding the mouth are long, muscular arms, or ten- 
tacles, covered with cup-like suckers, by means of which 
they cling with the greatest firmness to whatever they 
lay hold of, — it being easier to tear away an arm than 
to release it from its hold. They have within the 
body a sac containing an ink-like fluid, with which they 
cloud the water, and thus conceal themselves whenever 
they wish to escape from an enemy. The word Cephal- 
opod means head-footed, and is given to these Mollusks 
because their locomotive organs are attached to the 
head, as just described. Cephalopods vary from a few 
inches to many feet in length, according to the kind. 
They have a most wonderful power of changing their 
colors, their hues varying constantly. They swim by 
means of their arms, or with them crawl on the bottom 
with the head downward. They are very voracious, 
devouring fishes and other animals, whose flesh they 
readily tear in pieces with their stout hooked beaks. 



206 



MOLLUSKS: CErHALOPODS. 




Fig. 356. — Argonaut, or Paper Sailor. Much reduced. 
Warm seas. 




Fig. 357- — Octopus, or Poulp. Much reduced. 
Mediterranean. 







Fig. 358. — Squid, or Loligo. Much reduced. 
Atlantic Coast of United States. 



SQUIDS AND CUTTLE-FISHES. 207 

Cephalopods sometimes reach an enormous size. 
Aristotle tells us of one which was five fathoms in 
length, and even larger ones have been seen in recent 
years. Some have been found with arms thirty feet 
long and bodies nearly twenty feet. These gigantic 
Squid have given rise to the tales of the Kraken. 

Paper Sailors or Argonauts. 

The Argonaut, or Paper Sailor, Figure 356, has 
a very delicate and beautiful shell, and swims by 
placing two of its arms, which are webbed, close to 
the sides of the shell, and the others close together, 
and then ejecting water from the funnel seen just be- 
low the eye. The Argonaut is often called a Nautilus, 
— the true Nautilus is another animal, — and it has 
frequently been erroneously stated that it sails on the 
sea by spreading its sail-shaped arms to the breeze. 

Octopus. 

The Octopus, or Poulp, Figure 357, has no outside 
shell, and the arms are united at the base by a web. 
It varies from one or two inches to two feet in length, 
and has only eight arms. 

Squids, or Loligos, and Cuttlefishes. 

Squids have a long body ; broad, fin-like organs at 
the hind extremity; and along and slender internal 
shell which, from its shape, is called a " pen." They 
are from one to two feet and a half long, and, like Cut- 
tlefishes, have ten arms, two of which are longer than 
the others. By filling their body with water, and then 



208 



MOLLUSKS : CEPHALOPODS. 



forcibly ejecting it, they send themselves backwards 
through the water with the swiftness of an arrow. Im- 
mense numbers are used for bait in the cod fisheries. 
The giant squid are related in structure to these smaller 
ones. 



Fig. 360. — Spirula. 




Fig. 361. — Pearly Nautilus. Much reduced. 
Pacific and Indian Oceans. 



NAUTILI AND AxMMONITES. 209 

Cuttlefishes resemble Squids, but have two of the 
arms or tentacles much lengthened and expanded at 
their tips ; and they have a broad, internal shell, called 
cuttle bone. This is the cuttle bone which is given 
to canary birds. On the coasts of the Eastern Mediter- 
ranean, Cuttlefishes are so abundant that the cuttle 
bones are thrown up by the waves into ridges miles in 
length. Like other Cephalopods, Cuttlefishes have the 
power of clouding the water by ejecting an inky fluid 
into it when they wish to escape. This ink, when 
dried and prepared, is the sepia used in painting. 

Spirula. 

The Spirula resemble those just described, but have 
a coiled shell inside, Figure 360, and the shell is divided 
by partitions into chambers. 

Nautili and Ammonites. 

The Nautilus is the only living Cephalopod which 
has an external chambered shell. Figure 361 shows 
the Nautilus as it appears when cut open ; the animal 
lives in the outer chamber, which communicates with 
all the others by means of a tube called the siphuncle. 
It has occupied each chamber in turn, making a parti- 
tion behind as often as it outgrew its old home. 

The Nautilus lives in moderately deep water about 
the islands of the East Indian Archipelago. 

Ammonites, Figure 359, are chambered-shelled Ceph- 
alopods that lived in the seas ages ago ; hundreds of 
kinds of these, from an inch to a yard in diameter, are 
found imbedded in the rocks. 

NAT. HIST. AN. - 14 



2IO 



MOLLUSKS : GASTROPODS. 



SNAILS, OR GASTROPODS. 



The term Gastropod means stomach-footed, and is 
given to these animals because the lower side serves 
them as a sort of foot, by means of which they creep 
along. But this " foot " is in no way related to the 
feet of the backboned animals. Most of the Gastro- 
pods have a shell ; and, as this is made of only one 
piece, or valve, they are often called Univalves. Some, 
however, have no shell in the adult state, though all 
have a shell when first hatched. Most Gastropods 
have a lid or door, called the operculum, with which 
they close the opening to the shell when they with- 
draw within. It is a horny plate, sometimes strength- 
ened by shelly matter. Their eyes are two, and often 
on long stalks, as seen in Figure 354. Many of the 



Apex .. 
Suture. 



1 Spire. W, whorls. 



Lines of growth 



Umbilicus 




Canal. 



Fig. 362. — Names of the parts of a Gastropod Shell. 

Gastropods have horny jaws ; but one of the most 
curious parts of these animals is the tongue, or lingual 
ribbon, which is a band armed with a great number of 
glossy silicious teeth, arranged in rows in the most regu- 



WATER-BREATH INC SNAILS. 211 

lar manner, and differently in different kinds. The 
tongue of some kinds contains one hundred and sixty 
rows of teeth, and one hundred and eighty teeth in 
each row, or more than twenty-eight thousand in all. 
The tongue is used like a rasp to scrape the animal's 
food to pieces. 

Many of the Gastropods feed upon vegetable sub- 
stances, and these have the aperture of the shell en- 
tire. The others feed upon animal substances, and 
have the aperture notched, or drawn out into a canal, 
as in Figures 363-375. Some of these feed upon dead 
animals ; others attack living mollusks, though shut 
tightly within their shells, for the Gastropod, with its 
rasp-like tongue, files a round hole through the shell, 
then leisurely feasts upon its contents. Thus clams 
and other large mollusks fall a prey even to some of 
the very small carnivorous Gastropods, which are among 
the most dangerous enemies of the oyster, and cause 
heavy losses every year to the oystermen. 

The Gastropods are divided into Air-breathers, as 
Land Snails and Pond Snails ; and Water-breathers, 
as Sea Snails and River Snails. The young of the 
former are like the parents, only smaller ; the young of 
the latter differ from their parents, and swim with a 
pair of fins springing from the sides of the head. 

Water-breathing Snails. 

Strombs and Conches, or Wing-shells, etc. 

These are large marine shells, some of them the 
largest of the Gastropods. One kind, called the Foun- 
tain Shell, is extensively used for making shell cameos ; 



212 



MOLLUSKS : GASTROPODS. 



three hundred thousand of this kind were carried from 
the West Indies to Liverpool in a single year. The 
interior of the Conch is of the richest rosy hue. 

Murex Shells. 

The Murex and its relatives are marine, and prey upon 
other mollusks. The Spiny Murex of the Moluccas, 




Fig. 3^3- — Scorpion Shell, or Pteroccras. Much reduced. 
Chinese Seas. 





Fig- 365- — Stromb, or Conch. 
Much reduced. West Indies. 



Fig. 364. — Aporrhais. 
Coast of New England. 



WATER-BREATHING SNAILS. 



213 



the Pyrula and Tritonium of the coast of the United 
States, and the Frog Shell of Australia, are some of 
the principal ones. The ancients obtained the Tyrian 
purple dye from the Murex Gastropods. 





Fig- 367. — Pyrula. Much reduced. 
Coast of United States. 



Fig. 366. — Murex. Much 
reduced. Moluccas. 





Fig. 36S. — Tritonium. Coast Fig. 369. — Frog Shell, or Ranella. 
of New England. Reduced. Australia. 

Whelks. 



The Whelk is one of the most common of the Gas- 
tropods. Fig. 370 shows one species as it appears 



214 



MOLLUSKS: GASTROPODS. 




Fig. 370 — Whelk, or Buccinum, 
North Atlantic. 





Fig. 371. — Harp Shell. 
Reduced. Mauritius. 




Fig. 372. — Oliva. Reduced. Fig. 373. — Fusus. United States. 

Panama. 





Fig. 374. — Cone Shell. Reduced. 
China. 



Fig- 375. — Ricinula. 



WATER-BREATHING SNAILS. 21 5 

when crawling up the glass sides of the aquarium 
with the foot towards you. The Fusus, of the coast 
of the United States, may be found upon the shore 
after storms. The Harp Shell, of the Pacific, is always 
admired for its beautiful form and its delicate colors. 
The Oliva Shell, of Panama, is very beautiful, and is 
taken alive by bait attached to lines. 

Cones. 

There are nearly a thousand kinds of Cones. They 
are shaped like a cone with the top downwards. 

Volutes. 

The Volutes, Miter Shell, and Marginella belong 
under this head. Figures 376-378. 

Cowries. 

The Cowries are abundant in the warm seas, and 
are found on reefs and under rocks. The shell has a 
shining enameled surface, and many kinds are beauti- 
fully spotted and clouded. The Asiatic islanders use 
them to adorn their clothing, for sinkers to fishing nets, 
and in trading. The Money Cowrie is brought in im- 
mense quantities from the Pacific to England, then 
carried to western Africa, and used for money in trad- 
ing with the natives. It is scarcely an inch long. The 
Egg Cowrie and the Cypraea of the Indian Ocean show 
the general form of these shells. Figures 379-381. 

Naticas, Pyramid Shells, Cerithiums, etc. 

The Naticas are Sea Snails which have the shell some- 
what globe-shaped. The Pyramid Shells are named 



216 



MOLLUSKS : GASTROPODS. 





Fig. 377. — Marginella. 
Reduced. W. Africa. 



Fig. 376. — Volute. Much 
reduced. West Indies. 




Fig. 378. — Miter Shell. 
Much reduced. Ceylon. 





Fig. 380. — Trivia. 
Great Britain. 




F'g- 379- — Cowrie, or Cy- 

praea. Much reduced. 

Indian Ocean. 



Fig. 381.— Egg Cowrie. 

Much reduced. New 

Guinea. 






Fig. 382. — Sigaretus. Fig. 383. — Natica. Fig. 384. — Fig. 385.— 
West Indies. New England. Pyramid Shell. Pyramid 

Reduced. Shell. 

Great Britain. W. Indies. 



WATER-BREATHING SNAILS. 



217 






Fig. 386. — Cerithium. Fig. 387. — Melania. 
Much reduced. Moluccas. Western States. 



Fig. 388. — Io. 
Southern States. 





Fig. 389. — Tower 

Shell, or Turritella. 

West Indies. 



Fig. 390. — Wemletrap. 
Reduced. China. 



Fig. 391. — Worm- 
shell, or Vermetus. 
West Indies. 





Fig. 392. — Fig. 393-— Fig- 394. — 

Periwinkle, Lacuna. Valvata. Fig. 395. — River Snail Shell, 

or Litorina. U. States, or Paludina. United States. 



218 MOLLUSKS: GASTROPODS. 

from their shape ; the Cerithiums from a word which 
means a horn. The Melanias are fresh-water shells, 
common in the Western and Southern States. 

Wentletraps, etc. 

The Tower Shell and the Worm-shell of the West 
Indies, and the true Wentletraps of the tropical and 
temperate seas, belong in this group. The Royal 
Staircase, or Wentletrap, Figure 390, was formerly 
very valuable, and has been sold for a hundred pounds 
sterling, although now worth only a few dollars. 

Periwinkles. 

Periwinkles live in the sea near the shore. Two 
species are shown in Figures 392 and 393. They feed 
on algae, — marine plants. 

River Snails. 

These live in fresh water, have the shell covered 
with a green skin, bring forth their young alive, and 
the embryo snails, even before birth and when so small 
that they can scarcely be seen without a microscope, 
have a perfectly formed shell, a " foot" and operculum, 
delicate tentacles, and distinct black eyes. 

Violet Snails. 

The Violet Snails live together in large numbers, in 
the open sea, where they float by means of many air- 
vessels, which form a raft, a, Figure 402. The shell 
is thin, the base deep violet color, and the spire almost 
white. They yield a violet dye. 



WATER-BREATHING SNAILS. 



219 




Fig. 396. - Neri- Fig. 397- - Nerita. Fig. 398. - Trochus. Great- 
tina. Pacific. Sinde. Britain. 






Fig. 399. — Ear-shell, or Fig. 400. — Cup-arid- Fig. 401. — Keyhole 
Haliotis. Reduced. saucer Limpet. Limpet. West 

Great Britain. Philippines. 



Indies. 




Fig. 4°3- 

Fig. 402. — Violet Snail. Atlantic. Chiton. 

*, raft ; *, egg capsules ; c, gills ; d, tentacles and eye-stalks. New England. 




Fig. 404. — Rock Limpet, 

or Patella. 

New England. 




Ficr. 405. — Toothshell. Fig. 406. — Crepidula. New England. 



220 MOLLUSKS: GASTROPODS. 

Limpets. 

Limpets cling tightly to stones and shells, and move 
about but little. They are all marine. In England, 
they are used by fishermen for bait, and on the coast of 
Berwickshire twelve millions have been collected yearly 
for this purpose. In the north of Ireland the people 
collect it for food. On the western coast of South 
America there is a Limpet a foot across, and the natives 
use its shell for a basin. 

Air-breathing Snails. 

Land Snails. 

Land Snails are very numerous, more than four thou- 
sand kinds being already known. Figures 407-412. 
They all feed upon plants. One of the largest and 
most common is the Helix albolabris, Figure 407, 
easily found under old logs, stumps, and leaves. In 
warm, damp weather, Snails of this and similar kinds 
come out of their hiding places, and crawl over the 
leaves and up tree-trunks. In early summer they lay 
eggs in the loose soil beside logs or stones, and in 
twenty or thirty days the young hatch. When cold 
weather comes they seek a sheltered spot, close the 
mouth of the shell with a thin membrane which they 
secrete, and become torpid, remaining so till the warm 
days of spring. 

Pond Snails, or Limnaeidae. 

These live in fresh waters, and lay their eggs in 
transparent masses on aquatic plants and on stones. 
They have a thin and horn-like shell. Figures 413- 



AIR-BREATHING SNAILS. 



221 



415. They feed on plants, and glide along the sur- 
face of the water, shell downwards. They thrive well 




Fig. 407. — Helix albolabris. 






Fig. 411. — Succinea. 
Western States. 



Fig. 409. — Chrysalis 

Shell, or Pupa. 

Florida. 




Fig. 40S. — Buli- Fig. 410. — Slug, or Fig. 412. — Helix. North- 
mus. California. Limax. New England. ern States. 





Fig. 414. — Planorbis. 
United States. 

Fig. 413. — Physa. Fig. 415. — Limnaea. 

United States. United States. 



222 MOLLUSKS : HETEROPODS AND PTEROPODS. 

in an aquarium, where they are also very useful, devour- 
ing the green confervae that grow on the glass. 





P 



Fig. 416. — Heli- W&M Fig. 418. - ^TW/j Fig. 420. — Bui- 

cina. U. States. 9 Acicula. \wy i a# tj States. 

Fig. 417. — Great Fig. 419 — 

Clyclostoma. Britain. Tornatella. 

United States. Great Britain. 



Sea Slugs. 

These have no shells, and many of them only slightly 
resemble the Gastropods before described. See Fig- 
ures 421-425. 



Fig 422. — Doris. Great Biitain 




Fig. 423. — Elysia. Fig. 424. — At- 
Great Britain. lanta. South 

Atlantic. 

Fig. 421. — Eolis. Fig. 425. — Tritonia. 

Great Britain. Great Britain. 




HETEROPODS AND PTEROPODS. 

These live in the open sea. Some of them move in 
immense swarms, miles in extent. Figures 426-428. 



LAMELLIBRAXCHIA. 



223 



They much resemble the young of ordinary Sea Snails. 
They form the principle food of the Right Whale. 
One kind, the Clio, Figure 428, is said to have upon 
the head three hundred and sixty thousand suckers ! 




Fig. 426. — Hylea. 
Atlantic. 





Fig. 427. — Limacina. Fig. 428. — Clio. 
South Polar Seas. Arctic. 



LAMELLIBRANCHIA. 

These have no distinct head, breathe by plate-like 
gills, usually two pairs, and have a bivalve shell. 




Fig. 429. — One valve of a Bivalve Shell, showing the names of the 

parts. 
a, anterior retractor muscle; «', posterior retractor; /, lateral teeth; c, cardinal 
tooth; /, lunale; w, umbo; A, hinge ligament; s. retractor of siphons; /, pallial 
impression. 



224 MOLLUSKS: LAMELLIBRANCHIA. 

These Bivalves have a shell composed of two pieces, 
or valves, joined together on one side by a hinge, 
and held tightly together by one or two strong 
muscles which pass from one valve to the other on the 
inside. When the animal relaxes these muscles the 
shell is forced open by an elastic body called a liga- 
ment, situated at the hinge. Some kinds live in the 
sea, others in brooks, rivers, ponds, and lakes. Some 
idea of them all may be gained by studying the Com- 
mon Mussel, Figure 437, of the brooks, or the Common 
Clam, Figure 450, of the seacoast. Place the clam in a 
large basin of sea water, and soon it will begin to put 
out a dark-colored organ as long as the shell. The 
Clam can stretch it out two or three times the length 
of the shell. This is supposed by many persons to 
be the head, but it is not ; the mouth is within the 
shell and at the opposite end. At the end of the dark 
organ are two holes, — one larger than the other, — 
these being the openings of two tubes which are in- 
closed in the dark-colored sheath ; and around each 
opening there is a row of fringes or tentacles. A cur- 
rent of water is all the time flowing into the larger 
opening, and another current flowing out of the smaller 
opening. The first carries in pure water to supply air 
to the gills, and minute plants and animals to supply 
the mouth and stomach with food, and the outgoing 
current bears away the impure water together with the 
waste particles which the animal throws off. The cur- 
rents are caused by a vast number of hairlike fringes 
which cover the gills within the Mollusk, and which are 
constantly in motion. The position and appearance 
of the siphonal tubes in fresh-water Mussels are seen 
in Figure 435. 



OYSTERS, PECTENS, ETC. 



225 



Though mainly small, or of ordinary size, a few Bi- 
valves are very large. At St. Sulpice, Paris, the valves 
of a Tridacna, two feet across, are used as vessels for 
the holy water. The Tridacna lives on coral reefs in 
the Pacific and Indian Oceans. 





Fig. 430. — Pecten. From Cape Ann Fig. 431. — Mytilus. Both 
southward. shores of the Atlantic. 





Fig. 432. — Avicula. Fig. 433. — Leda. Fig. 434. — Cardicum. 
Reduced. Mediterranean. New England. Reduced. New England. 

Oysters, Pectens, Mussels, Pearl Oysters, etc. 

Oysters are more highly prized for food than any 
other mollusk. They occur in the greatest quantities 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 15 



226 



MOLLUSKS : LAMELLIBRANCHIA. 




Fig. 438. Fig. 439. 

Figs. 435-439. Unios. Reduced. United States. 



RAZOR SHELLS, CLAMS, ETC. 227 

on the coast of the Middle States, especially in Dela- 
ware and Chesapeake Bays. 

Pectens, or Scallops, Figure 430, are also prized for 
food. Their beautiful shells are known to almost 
every one, for they are much used in making card- 
holders, pin-cushions, and other little articles. The 
Pecten swims rapidly by opening and shutting its 
valves. 

Sea Mussels, Figure 431, inhabit mud-banks which 
are uncovered at low water. They multiply rapidly, 
and grow to their full size in one yean By means of 
a collection of horny threads, called a byssus, they at- 
tach themselves to rocks, or to the ground. 

Pearl Oysters, or Aviculas, Figure 432, have shells 
yielding the beautiful material called mother-of-pearl, 
extensively used for making and ornamenting a great 
number of useful and beautiful articles. They also 
yield the oriental pearls. 

Unios, or River Mussels. 

These Mollusks abound in brooks, rivers, ponds, and 
fresh-water lakes. They are sometimes called Naiades, 
and there are very many kinds. It would take several 
books larger than this one to describe all the kinds 
found in the United States. A few of the forms of 
Unios are shown in Figures 435-439. Sometimes 
beautiful and valuable pearls are found in them. 

Razor Shells, Clams, etc. 

The Razor Shells are very long and smooth. They 
burrow in the sand, and are good for food. The Com- 
mon Clam burrows in sand and mud, and is exten- 
sively used for food, and for bait for cod. 



228 



MOLLUSKS : LAMELLIBRANCHIA. 




,^ 



Fig. 441 — Fig. 442. - 
Sphaerium. Th)'asira. 
Northern New England. 
States. 

Fig. 440. — Astarte. Fig. 443. — Sphaerium. 

New England. Northern States. 





Fig. 444. — Cytherea. Reduced. 
West Indies. 



Fig. 445. — Mactra. Great 
Britain. 





Fig. 447. — Tel- Fig. 448.— Tellina. 
lina. United States. United States. 
Fig. 446. — Tellina. Great Britain. 




Fig. 449. — Razor Shell, or Solen. Much reduced. Both shores of 
the Atlantic. 

Pholades and Shipworms. 

Pholades have the shell very hard and rough, like a 
rasp, and they burrow into all sorts of substances, even 
into stone. Shipworms are long Mollusks, looking like 



WORMS. 



229 



Worms. The common kinds are about a foot long, but 
one kind is three feet in length. They bore into the 
timber of ships and wharves and are very destructive. 





Fig. 450. — Common Clam. Re- 
duced. Coast of New England. 



Fig. 451. — Pandora. 




Fig. 452. — Gastrochaena. 
Gal way. 



Fig. 453. — Watering-pot Shell, 
reduced. 



Much 




Fig. 454. — Pholas. Reduced. 
India. 




Fig. 455. — Pholas. New 
England and eastward. 



VERMES, OR WORMS. 

Worms are long animals, which are made up of 
many similar rings. The nerves are distributed in 
knots or clusters throughout the whole length of the 
animal, and hence worms are not always killed when 
cut in pieces ; and in some cases the several pieces 
become distinct worms. The kinds of Worm are very 



2 SO 



VERMES. 



numerous, but they are most abundant in the sea and 
in fresh waters. Many of the animals which look like 
Worms are Butterflies or Moths, in the 
larva state, and are caterpillars instead 
of Worms. Such are the "Tobacco 
Worm" and "Tomato Worm." One 
of the most common kinds of Sea- 
worm is the Serpula, which lives in 
tubes that are found incrusting stones 
and other bodies. The breathing or- 
gans are in tufts near the head, and 
there is a little round body, shown in 
the cut, which serves to shut the ani- 
mal in when it withdraws itself into 
the tube. 

The Earthworm, common in rich soils, is well known 
to all boys, and is used as good bait for trout and 
other fishes. It feeds upon the tender roots of plants 
and also on their leaves. It may swallow earth for the 
sake of the minute animals and plants in it. In spite 




Fig. 456. — Serpula. 




Fig- 457. — Earthworm. 



of the absence of legs, jaws or other hard parts, which 
can be employed in digging, the worm is able to drive 
long burrows even in firm soil. As every boy knows, 
it can fasten itself firmly into its burrow by shortening 
and so thickening that part of the body which is in 
the burrow. In tunneling, the same means is used to 
prevent the worm from slipping backward while the 
forward end of the body is forced into the unpierced 



BRACHIOPODS. 23 1 

ground. The worm may swallow the earth if it is 
too hard to be pierced in this way. The earth thus 
swallowed or taken in with the food is discharged 
on the surface of the ground. These " worm-castings " 
are very abundant after rains or in the morning after 
a damp night, as the worms are very active at night 
and in damp weather. Worms play an important 
part in causing changes in the soil. Their burrows 
allow the air and water to easily penetrate the earth 
and the worms carry very large amounts of soil to the 
surface from the deeper parts of the ground. The 
Worm is by no means the slow and torpid creature 
which most of us fancy it to be. At night they move 
about actively on the surface of the ground, after their 
chief enemies, the birds, are asleep. They can also 
climb, as their presence in eaves, troughs and water 
tubs shows. The senses of the Worm are not highly 
developed. Touch and taste are perhaps the best. 
They show a sort of intelligence in the arrangement of 
leaves to plug their burrows. The leaf is always drawn 
into the burrow by the narrow end and the worm feels 
the leaf all over in order to seize it by the right end. 

In tropical countries Earthworms are found much 
larger than ours. Some of these are as much as six 
feet long and thick in proportion. Many small Worms, 
similar to the Earthworm, are found in fresh water. 

BRACHIOPODS. 

Some Worms so differ in form from the ordinary 
Worm that they are hardly recognizable as Worms. 
Such are the Brachiopods and Polyzoa. 

These animals have the two valves of unequal size, 



232 



VERMES: POLYZOA. 



and in one of them there is a hole through which 
passes a fleshy stalk, by which the shell is attached to 
the rocks'. The word Brachiopod means arm-footed, 
and is given to these animals on account of the long, 
fringed arms growing from the sides of the mouth, 






Fig. 458. — Terebratula Fig. 45q.— Side Fig. 460. — Brachiopod. 
— a Brachiopod. view of Fig. 458. 




Fig. 461. — Lingula— a Brachiopod. Reduced. Philippines. 

and by means of which they make currents in the 
water and thus secure their food. 

The Lingula has a very long fleshy stem and so 
shows its relation to the Worms more plainly than the 
rest. The shell of this animal is found as a fossil in the 
most ancient rocks which contain traces of animal life. 



POLYZOA. 

These are very small, or minute, animals related to 
the Worms, growing in clusters upon shells, rocks, and 
other objects, both in the sea and in fresh waters, and 
which look very much like Polyps. They are often 
called Bryozoa. 



SEA CUCUMBERS. 233 

PARASITIC WORMS. 

There are a great number of Worms which live as 
parasites in the intestines, or in the flesh of other ani- 
mals. Such are the Tapeworms and the Threadworms. 
The Trichina is the most dangerous of these parasites. 
It lives in the flesh of the hog, and if eaten by man 
the worms develop in the intestine and afterwards 
burrow out into the muscles. Their migration causes 
great suffering and often death. 

The Gordius, or Hair Worm, belongs to the same 
great group of Worms as the Trichina. It lives, when 
young, in the intestine of the Cricket and Grasshopper 
but becomes free when grown up. It lays its eggs in 
the water, where it is often found and sometimes 
thought to be an animated hair. 

ECHINODERMS, OR STARFISHES. 

The word Echinoderm means hedgehog-skin, and is 
given to these animals because many of them have the 
outside covered with spines, thus reminding us of the 
Hedgehog of the fields, described on page 60. In the 
Echinoderms the parts are arranged according to a 
reigning number, generally five ; that is, the parts of 
each kind are five, or a multiple of five. 

SEA CUCUMBERS, OR HOLOTHURIANS. 

The Holothurians, or Sea Cucumbers, have no spines, 
but are covered with a tough skin capable of great ex- 
pansion and contraction, and containing particles of 
limestone. There are many kinds, varying from an 



234 



ECHINODERMS: ECHINOIDEA. 



mmiwwfm 




A £ .£ n " ' 




Fig. 462. — Holothurian, or Sea Cucumber. 

inch to several feet in length. They live in the sea 
and are exceedingly interesting, and very beautiful 
when the long and delicate fringes around the mouth 
are expanded. When taken from the water they 
shrink and lose their beauty of form and color. They 
must be seen in the ocean, or in the aquarium, in order 
to get a good idea of them. Figure 462 shows one 
very common at Grand Manan, Eastport, and other 
places on the North Atlantic. The Chinese use their 
dried and smoked skins, called trepang, in making soup. 



SEA URCHINS, OR ECHINOIDEA. 

True Sea Urchins are hemispherical, or flattened, and 
have a hard shell composed of plates which are regular 




Fig. 463. — Sea Urchin. 

in form and firmly bound together. Upon these plates 
are tubercles, and on these tubercles hard spines. In 



SEA URCHINS. 235 

certain plates there are rows of holes through which 
pass fleshy organs called suckers, or ambulacral feet, 
with the end slightly expanded. By means of these 
suckers, which can be extended much beyond the 
spines, these animals can cling firmly to other bodies, 
and thus move about over the rocks, even up and 
down their smooth sides, as well as on level surfaces. 
So much can these suckers be extended that a Sea 
Urchin has been seen to put them forth from the top, 
and, bending them downwards, cling to the bottom of 
the basin in which the animal was lying. Figure 463 
shows a common kind of Sea Urchin as it appears 
when alive. When the animal dies, the skin, which 
covers the shell and holds the spines in their places, 







Fig. 464. — Top view of Sea Urchin. Spines removed. 

dries up, and the spines fall off, and then the shell, 
with all its beautiful structure and markings, is plainly 
seen. In the one represented in Figure 464 we find 
ten double rows of plates which run along the curved 
surface from the bottom to the top of the shell. In 
five of these double rows the plates are large, with- 
out holes, and are covered with large tubercles. Al- 
ternating with the double rows of large plates are five 
double rows of smaller ones, bearing few and small 



236 



ECHINODERMS. 



tubercles, and each plate is perforated with the holes 
for the suckers. The plates which bear the holes are 
called the ambidacral plates, — from a Latin word which 
means a walk, or alley ; and the large plates without 
holes are called the inter ambidacral plates. At the 
termination of each of the five belts or zones of ambu- 
lacral plates there is a little triangular plate with a 
minute opening which marks the place of the eye. 
Alternating with these ocular plates, so-called, are five 
larger plates, each being perforated with a larger hole 
through which the eggs are laid. One of these plates 
is much larger than the others, and is filled with very 
minute holes, and is called by naturalists the madre- 
poric body. It serves as a filter or strainer to the water 
which passes through it into the water tubes of the 
animal and wfcich is used in extending the sucker feet. 
The mouth, at the under side, is armed with five strong 
pointed and polished teeth, which form the outer part 
of a remarkable dental apparatus, which is called Aris- 
totle's Lantern. In a Sea Urchin of ordinary size there 

are five or six hundred 
plates, all fitting together 
in the most perfect man- 
ner, and bearing more 
than four thousand 
spines ; and the suckers 
number nearly two thou- 
sand. 

Besides the spines and 
the suckers, there are 
scattered over the body 

Echinarachnius. North- and around the mouth 

east coast of North America. of Sea Urchins a great 




SEA URCHINS. 



237 




Fig. 466. — Mellita. Southeast coast of United States. 

number of curious little 
organs called pedicil- 
laricB. They look like a 
stem ending in a knob, 
but the knob is com- 
posed of three pieces or 
blades, which open and 
shut tightly, thus form- 
ing a sort of pincers. 
These organs are of use 
in keeping the shell 
clean. 

The number of kinds Fi S- ^> ~ Rotula - Coast of Africa - 
of Sea Urchins is quite large, and they vary in size 
from an inch to three or four inches in diameter, and 
have spines from a quarter of an inch long to three or 
four inches in length. Some of them are capable of 
making holes in hard substances, even in limestone and 
granite. 




238 



ECHINODERMS : STARFISHES. 



Other kinds, like Figures, 465, 466 and 467, burrow 
in the sand. These are much flattened. 



STARFISHES, OR SEA STARS. 

Starfishes are common on all rocky coasts. They 
are readily found by looking under the seaweed in 
pools that have been left by the tide. They are so 
named from their starlike form, the disk or central 



r^^^w^m 







^C; 



mmm^ 



4^* 



■ ■ ■•''■' V- "\ 




Fig. 468. — Starfish. 

portion gradually merging into the rays. Beneath 
each ray there is a large number of locomotive suck- 
ers, like those of the Sea Urchins already described. 



STARFISHES. 239 

These tubes are seen in Figure 468, which shows the 
upper part of the Starfish, three of the rays being 
slightly turned backward. The mouth is on the under 
side in the center, and there is an eye, or eye-spot, 
at the end of each ray. By means of the ambu- 
lacral tubes Starfishes move slowly but surely over 
the rocks and all kinds of surfaces, and they can cling 
to the rocks so firmly that they are often removed with 
difficulty, and will sometimes even allow their ambu- 
lacra to be pulled off rather than let go their hold- 
Their covering is not solid as in the Sea Urchins, but 
is composed of movable plates, so that these animals 
are able to bend themselves in every direction, and 
thus work their way into holes and fissures in rocks 
where we should hardly expect to find them. Star- 
fishes feed upon mollusks and other marine animals, 
and when they feed they turn the stomach out of the 
mouth and over the food to be devoured. A curious 
spot is seen on the back near the junction of two of 
the arms. This is the madreporic body described in 
speaking of the Sea Urchins. It is a sort of minute 
sieve, and forms an entrance to a series of internal 
water-tubes, some of them connecting with the loco- 
motive suckers and supplying them with water. Water 
is also admitted into the body through minute pores 
which cover the whole surface of the animal. Star- 
fishes often lose one or more of their arms, or rays, 
by being dashed against the rocks by the waves, 
or the arm is bitten off by a fish. In all such 
cases a new one sprouts out in the place of the old 
one, and specimens may be found showing such new 
rays in all stages, from those that are just sprouting to 
those that have nearly reached their full growth. 



240 



ECHINODERMS : OPHIURANS. 



SERPENT STARS, OR OPHIURANS. 

The Serpent Stars, or Ophiurans, are so called from 
the resemblance of their long slender rays to a snake's 




Fig. 469. — Serpent Star, or Ophiuran. 




Fig. 470. — Basket Fish, or Astrophyton. 



CRIXOIDS. 



24I 



tail. They are found on nearly all coasts, and are at 
once distinguished by a small disk or central portion 
from which the rays start off very abruptly, instead of 
the gradual passage of the central part into the arms, 
as seen in the true Starfishes. They move about by 
bending their arms, whose hold is aided by their spine. 
Nearly all have the arms simple, Figure 469 ; but some 
have the arms much branched, Figure 470. 



CRINOIDS. 

The word Crinoid means lily-like in form, and is 
given to a large number of Echinoderms on account of 
their lily-like or plant-like appearance. Only a small 




Fig. 471.— Living Crinoid— Pentacrinus caput-medusae. West Indies, 
number of these animals are now living. Of the few 
living ones, some kinds have a stem, in the adult state. 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 16 



242 CCELENTERATES : ACALEPHS. 

One of these is the Pentacrinus caput-mednsoe, of the 
West Indies, Figure 471. Some of the living Crinoids 
are free-swimming when adult, and much resemble the 
Ophiurans. 

In the rocks, in various parts of the United States 
and in other countries, fossils of the stemmed kinds are 
exceedingly abundant, showing us that these animals 
lived in profusion in the old ocean which ages ago 
covered a large part of our country. And the fossils 
are so various in form, and so beautiful in pattern and 
marking, that no words can fitly describe them. The 
workman in the quarry stops to admire them, and the 
learned naturalist is fascinated by their beauty, and 
never grows weary of studying them. They are the 
gems of the geological collection. 

Of the living free Crinoids, — that is, those without 
a stem, — one of the best known is called the Ante- 
don, or Feather Star. When young this, too, has a 
stem, and looks not very unlike the Medusa's Head, 
Figure 471 ; but as it grows older it drops from the 
stem, and lives a free life. 

CCELENTERATES, OR LASSO-THOWERS. 

These radiated animals are cylindrical in form. They 
have no digestive canal separate from the body wall. 
All of them have nettle cells, as described below. 

The main kinds are the Jellyfishes including Cteno- 
phora and Hydroids, and Polyps. 

JELLYFISHES, OR ACALEPHS. 

Of all animals of the sea, perhaps none are more 
wonderful than these. Their jellylike bodies, curious 



JELLYFISHES. 



243 



forms and structure, their beautiful colors of claret, 
rose and pink, their varied and almost magical move- 
ments, as varied and graceful as those of the birds and 
insects of the air, their phosphorescence by night, 
causing them to be called the " lamps of the sea," 




Fig. 472. — Jellyfish. 

and their curious changes in passing from the young 
to the adult state, have interested all intelligent visit- 
ors to the seaside, and have caused these animals to be 
carefully studied by some of the most eminent natural- 
ists of Europe and America. The word Acaleph 
means nettle, and is given to these animals because 
some of them cause a stinging sensation when they 
touch our flesh ; hence they are often called Sea Net- 
tles. They are also as often called Medusas. Their 



244 CCELENTERATES : ACALEPHS. 

common name, Jellyfish, was given on account of 
their jellylike appearance and substance. 

If we examine the structures of Acalephs, we find a 
cavity, which is the stomach, hollowed out of the mass 
of the body, and this cavity has an opening which 
serves as a mouth ; the edges of this opening are 
turned outward and prolonged into delicate fringes. 
And there are tubes which radiate from the center of 
the body and unite with a tube at the circumference. 

The kinds of Jellyfishes are numerous, and they 
vary in size from those scarcely visible to those which 
are one or two yards in diameter, and with tentacles 
thirty or forty feet long ; and Mrs. Agassiz, in her 
beautiful book, "Seaside Studies in Natural History," 
mentions one which measured about seven feet in 
diameter, and had tentacles more than a hundred feet 
in length ! 

Jellyfishes are a hungry race, and feed upon their 
own kind and other marine animals, which they 
secure by means of their tentacles and lassos. On the 
tentacles of Jellyfishes, and of Polyps too, there are 
numerous lasso-cells, — too small to be seen without 
the microscope, — each containing a long, spirally-coiled 
thread or lasso, which can be instantly darted forth and 
thrust into the little animal which is desired for food. 

Ctenophora. 

The Ctenophora are more or less spherical, or egg- 
shaped, with eight rows of locomotive fringes dividing 
the surface of the body, as the ribs divide the surface 
of a melon. The Pleurobrachia is one of the most com- 
mon kinds on the northeast coast of the United States, 



CTEXOPHORA. 



245 



and in its movements and curious appendages is one of 
the most wonderful of all the Jelly fishes. It is transpa- 
rent, and besides the eight rows of fringes mentioned 
above, it has two most extraordinary tentacles one on 
either side of the body ; and no form of expansion or 
contraction, or curve or spiral, can be conceived which 
these tentacles may not assume. 

Bolina and Idyia are other sCtenophora common on 




Fig. 473. — Pleurobrachia. 

the northeast coast of the United States. The Rose- 
colored Idyia is three or four inches long, and shaped 



246 CCELENTERATES : ACALEPHS. 

somewhat like a melon with one end cut off. The 
mouth occupies the whole of the cut-off end, and the 
stomach occupies a large part of the interior of the 
animal. In summer it sometimes appears in such 
swarms as to tinge large patches of the sea with a 
delicate rosy hue. It is very voracious, and feeds 
mainly on other jellyfishes, sometimes capturing those 
nearly as large as itself. 

True Medusae, or Discophora. 

These have the body in the form of a hemispheric 
disk, more or less flattened. Of these disk-shaped Me- 
dusae none are more beautiful in their appearance or 
interesting in their history than the Aurelia, or Sun- 
fish, represented in Figure 477. This Jellyfish is 
common on the coast of New England, is about a 
foot across in the larger specimens, and lives but a 
single year. In the spring it is about a quarter of an 
inch in diameter, and on pleasant days moves in large 
swarms near the surface of the water. About the 
middle of summer they become full grown. Towards 
the close of summer they lay their eggs, and in the 
autumn they perish. At length the eggs hatch, and 
the little planidce, as the newly hatched Jellyfishes are 
called, swim about in the water by means of tiny 
appendages which naturalists call cilia. Soon each 
becomes attached to a rock, shell, or seaweed, and is 
then called scypJwstoma, Figure 475. Then the body 
begins to divide by horizontal constrictions, and soon 
appears as in Figures 474 and 476, and is then called 
strobila. At length the segments become more and 
more separated, and the uppermost one drops off, then 
the next one, then the next, and so on till each in turn 



TRUE MEDUSAE. 



247 



has separated from the one below itself. Each disk, as 
it separates, turns over and floats away, and is known 
as cpliyra. Soon each ephyra assumes the form of a 





Fig. 475- — Scyphos- 
toma of Aurelia. 




Fig. 474. — Strobila 
of Aurelia. Magnified. 



Fig. 476. — Strobila of Aurelia. 
Much magnified. 




Fig. 477. — Sunfish, or Aurelia. 

perfect Jellyfish, as shown in Figure 477. Thus one 
scyphostoma which comes from a single egg becomes 
a strobila, and this strobila divides into numerous 
parts, each of which becomes a Jellyfish. 



248 



CCELENTERATES : ACALEPHS. 

Hydroids. 



The Hydroids are Jellyfishes which are almost more 
wonderful in their mode of development than those 
already described. Occurring, as they do in many 
cases, in their early stages of existence, as mere dis- 




Fig. 478. — Coryne. Cluster of Hydrae 
growing on seaweed. 





Fig. 480. — Coryne. 
Adult. 



Fig- 479- — Single individual of Fig. 478, 
enlarged, showing a and b just ready to 
drop off and become free Medusae, like 
Fig. 480; c, a younger bud. 

colored patches on seaweeds, stones, or shells, or ap- 
pearing like little tufts of moss, or miniature shrubs, 



HVDROIDS. 



249 



the untrained eye might well mistake the fact that 
they are animals. But naturalists have shown that 
these plantlike forms produce Medusae buds, which 
expand into genuine Medusae, or Jellyfishes. Figure 
478 shows a little cluster of Hydroids attached to sea- 
weed, and Figure 479 shows a single individual of the 
same very much magnified, with two of the buds much 
enlarged, and a third quite prominent. Soon each bud 
becomes detached, and floats away as a free Jellyfish, 





Fig. 4S2. — Tiaropsis. Northeast 
coast of North America. 




Fig. 483. — Campanularian. The Hydromedu- 
sae in the bell-shaped cups drop out and be- 
come free Medusae, similar to Figure 4S2. 



Fig. 481. — Tubularia. 
Massachusetts Bay. 

wr, medusae; ct, coronal ten- 
tacle; /, proboscis. 

like Figure 480, and is then known as Coryne, or, as 
it was formerlv called, Sarsia, so named from Sars, a 



250 



CCELENTERATES : ACALEPHS. 



Norwegian naturalist, who was one of the first investi- 
gators of these curious kinds of Jellyfishes. 

Nothing can excel the delicacy of Coryne. Soft as 
the softest jelly, almost as transparent as the dewdrop, 




Fig. 484. — Portuguese Man-of-war. 

yet it performs varied and rapid movements, contracts 
and expands its tentacles, catches and devours other 
Medusae, and other marine animals, and to all appear- 
ances delights in life as much as higher animals do. 



HYDROIDS. 251 

They are abundant in the spring. In the middle of 
summer they lay their eggs and perish. But the eggs 
do not hatch Medusae like the parent, but each hatches 
a little hydroid which is first free, then afterwards be- 
comes attached to a shell, seaweed, or stone, and from 
this little hydroid others branch till a little community 
of hydroids had grown up, as in Figure 478. From 
these hydroids bud again the Coryne, Figure 479. 

In some kinds, as Tubularia, Figure 481, the hydroid 
has a wreath of coronal tentacles, as they are called, 
a projecting part called a proboscis, and the medusae 
grow in clusters from just above the coronal tentacles. 

In those called Sertularians and Campanularians, 
Figure 483, the hydroid has a stem which is covered by 
a horny sheath, forming a cup around the head. In 
a fertile cup there are a dozen or more hydromedusae, 
which at length drop out and become free medusae 
similar to Tiaropsis, Figure 482. 

In those called Siphonophora, the hydroids exist 
as free moving communities, each community being 
made up of individuals of different kinds, yet all so 
combined as to give the appearance of one animal. 
The Portuguese Man-of-war, of the Gulf of Mexico, is 
one of the most remarkable and best known of this 
sort. It consists of a pear-shaped and elegantly crested 
air sac, floating lightly upon the water, and giving off 
from its under surface numerous long and varied ap- 
pendages. These are the different members of the 
community, and fill different offices ; some of them eat 
for the whole, others produce medusa buds, and others 
are the locomotive or swimming members, and have 
tentacles that stretch out behind the floating com- 
munity to the length of twenty or thirty feet. 



252 



CCELENTERATES : POLYPS. 




Fig. 485. — Acale- 
phian Coral. 



It was discovered by Professor 
Agassiz, that there are some kinds of 
Acalephs which produce coral similar 
to that formed by Coral Polyps, de- 
scribed in the following pages, but 
unlike the latter in having, in the 
cells, a horizontal floor extending 
from wall to wall. 



SEA ANEMONES AND CORAL ANIMALS, OR 
POLYPS. 

These are marine Ccelenterates which have a sacklike 
or tubular body, with a circular top, in the center of 
which is an opening called the mouth, and around the 




Fig. 4S6. — Polyp — Sea Anemone. 

mouth are one or more rows of hollow feelers, or ten- 
tacles. The mouth opens directly into an inner sack, 
which is the stomach, and this stomach opens at the 
bottom into the main body. The main body is divided 



SEA ANEMONES AND CORAL ANIMALS. 



253 



by partitions, which run from the bottom to the top, 
and from the outer wall to the stomach. Through the 
opening at the bottom of the stomach there is free com- 
munication with all the chambers formed by the parti- 
tions, and these chambers connect with the tentacles ; 
so that the food, after being digested, passes into the 
main body, and thence into the tentacles, thus nourish- 




Fig. 487. — Cl#ster of Coral Polyps in various stages of expansion. 

ing every part. The food of polyps consists of small 
marine animals of various kinds, which are secured by 
means of the tentacles and the curious and wonderful 
lassos situated on the tentacles. The word Polyp 
means many-footed, and is given to these animals 
on account of their numerous tentacles ; but it must 
not be supposed that the latter are feet in any true 
sense. Most kinds of Polyps are attached to the rocks, 
shells, or other bodies beneath the waves. Some 
live singly, others in communities whose numbers are 
often far more numerous than the leaves upon the 
trees. 



254 CCELENTERATES : POLYPS. 

Polyps increase by means of eggs, by budding in a 
manner much like that of trees and shrubs, and by 
division of one animal into two or more, so that the 
largest communities arise from a single animal. The 
eggs are formed on the vertical partitions, and pass 
out, through the mouth, into the water. When first 
hatched, the young do not look like the parent, but are 
little oval bodies which move freely about by means of 
the fringe-like appendages, called vibratile cilia, with 
which they are covered. At length each becomes 
attached to a rock, shell, or seaweed, and soon assumes 
the form of the parent. If it is a kind which buds, 
there soon grow from its sides or base others exactly 
like itself, and from these, in turn, bud other polyps 
of the same kind. Thus the community goes on grow- 
ing till it has reached its limits of increase. If it is a 
kind which increases by division, it widens as it grows 
upward, the walls in two opposite places begin to ap- 
proach each other, and soon the polyp is divided into 
two, with two mouths and two circular disks surrounded 
by tentacles, instead of one as before the division. 
The polyps thus formed divide in the same way, and 
this process is continued till from a single polyp there 
is formed a large and beautiful cluster. 

Polyps readily reproduce lost parts, and even if cut 
in pieces, each fragment will, in some cases, become 
a perfect animal. Polyps vary in size from extreme 
minuteness to those that are more than a foot across. 
Some, like the Sea Anemones, Figure 486, are wholly 
soft ; others secrete a more or less solid framework, 
which is called coral ; and those which secrete coral 
are called Coral Polyps, or Coral Animals. Some per- 
sons suppose that coral is something that is built by 



ALCYONARIA. 255 

an insect, as the bee builds comb, or the wasp its nest, 
and the industry of this supposed insect is often 
spoken of. But it is not proper to give the name 
Insect to the Coral Polyps, for they are in no way 
related to Insects, either in appearance, structure, or 
habits. Coral is not something which is built, but 
something which grows. It is the skeleton, or many 
united skeletons, of Polyps, and these animals exhibit 
no industry in forming it, any more than do other 
animals in forming their own bones. Coral is not a 
house in which the animal lives; on the contrary, the 
coral is wholly inside of the animals, and it is only 
when the Polyps die, wither, and disappear that we 
see the solid coral itself. Polyps grow in various and 
most wonderful and beautiful forms, imitating almost 
all kinds of vegetation, as lichens, fungi, mosses, ferns, 
grasses, herbs, shrubs and trees. A hundred years 
ago, or more, they were thought to be plants, and even 
the great naturalist, Linnaeus, regarded them as plant- 
animals, that is, partaking of the character of both 
plants and animals ; even now they are often called 
Zoophytes, a word which means animal-plants, al- 
though they are in no way related to plants. The 
colors of these wonderful animals of the sea are as 
beautiful and almost as varied as their forms ; and 
some of the Polyp communities equal, in splendor 
of colors, the most beautiful flower gardens of the 
land. 

Sea-pens, G-orgonias, etc., or Alcyonaria. 

These are Polyps which have eight long fringed or 
lobed tentacles, around a narrow disk, Figures 488- 



256 



CCELENTERATES : POLYPS. 




Fig- 493— Red Coral. Fig. 494. — Primnoa. Fig.495.— Organ-pipe. 



ALCYONARIA. 257 

490, and which form compound clusters or commu- 
nities by budding. The Sea-pens and Renillas are 
Polyps which are arranged on a more or less ex- 
panded disk, which is connected with a sort of stem 
or peduncle, by means of which the community may 
move about or fix itself in the sand or mud. The 
Sea-pens are so called from their resemblance to 
a quill. The Renilla, Figure 488, found on the coast 
of the Southern States and of South America, looks 
like a broad leaf attached to its leaf-stalk ; and when 
the purple disk is covered with the expanded Polyps, 
as seen in the cut, it is a very beautiful object. The 
form of a separate Polyp is shown in Figure 489. 

The Gorgonias abound in tropical seas, but some 
kinds are also found in temperate regions. The forms 
are exceedingly various, Figures 490-494, and many 
of them are very delicate and beautiful, often bearing 
a very close resemblance to plants ; in all, however, the 
Polyps are short, and secrete a solid central axis of 
coral. This axis is plainly shown in Figures 492 and 
494. One of the most common and striking forms of 
the Gorgonias is the Sea Fan, which is more or less 
broad and fan-shaped, the branches in many cases run- 
ning together so as to form a network. Figure 491. 
One form of the* Gorgonias, the Primnoa, Figure 494, 
is found even as far north as St. George's Banks and 
the Bay of Fundy. But the one which has the greatest 
popular interest is the Red Coral, Cor allium rubrum. 
It is obtained mainly in the Mediterranean. The coral 
fishers go out in boats, and are provided with a large 
wooden cross, which is loaded with stone in the center 
and has hempen nets attached to each of its arms. 
While one man is constantly raising and letting fall 

NAT. HIST. AN. — 1 7 



258 CCELENTERATES : POLYPS. 

this machine upon the coral beds, others row the boat 
so that the branches broken off are caught up by the 
nets. From time to time the cross and nets are raised, 
and the branches of coral which have been entangled 
in the meshes are secured. 

Closely related to the Gorgonias are the Alcyonacea, 
of which the Organ-pipe Coral, Figure 495, is one of 
the most interesting examples. It is of a beautiful 
red color, and gets its name from the fact that the 
tubes of the coral somewhat resemble organ-pipes. 

Sea Anemones, or Actinaria. 

These Polyps are wholly soft, only a few secreting 
from the base a horn-like substance. They are com- 
mon on nearly all coasts, and vary from a quarter of 
an inch to a foot or more in diameter, as seen in some 
of the tropical species. Our species seldom exceed two 
or three inches in diameter, and most of them are much 
smaller, although some are six inches high. The Bu- 
nodes, Figure 499, is found among the rocks on the 
coast of Maine. The most common kind on the north- 
east coast of North America is the Fringed Actinia, or 
Metridium. Figures 496-498. When fully expanded, 
it is about four inches high and three inches across the 
disk, and is a most interesting object. 

Madrepores, Porites, Meandrinas, Astraeans, etc., or 
Madrep%raria. 

These Polyps are simple or compound, often exces- 
sively branching, and they form coral in their walls, or 
outer parts, in their radiating partitions, and often at 
their base. The forms which the communities assume 



MADREPORARIA. 



259 





Fig. 496. — Same as Fig. 498. 
Closed. 



Fig. 497. — Same as Fig. 498. 
Just opening. 




Fig. 498. 



Sea Anemone, or Fringed 
Actinia. 



Fig. 499. — Sea Anemone, 
or Bunodes. 



are very beautiful and exceedingly various, and they 
are among the most beautiful objects in zoological cabi- 
nets. 

The great group of Madrepores contains Polyps 
which have a definite number of tentacles, twelve or 
more; those called Porites, Figure 501, have the cells 
shallow, and are net more than one twelfth of an inch 
in diameter, the coral in some cases branching, in 
others massive, and always very solid. Massive speci- 
mens of Porites are sometimes fifteen feet in diameter. 



260 COELENTERATES : POLYPS. 

In the true Madrepores, Figure 500, the Polyps do not 
secrete coral at the base ; hence the cells of the coral 
are very deep, and these corals spread and branch into 
the most beautiful and varied forms, and the Polyp at 
the end of a branch, Figure 500, is always larger than 
the others. 

In the great group of the Astraeans the tentacles 
occur in multiples of six. Those of this group, called 
Brain Corals, or Meandrinas, have the surface covered 
with winding trenches, Figure 505, on each side of 
which there is a row of tentacles. The form of the 
Meandrinas is generally that of a hemisphere, and 
some of these masses are twelve feet in diameter. 
The true Astraeans, or Star Corals, Figure 507, have 
the cells in the form of concave pits, and the common 
forms of this coral are hemispherical or dome-shaped 
masses, some of which are twenty feet in diameter ; 
the Polyps themselves are often an inch in diam- 
eter. Most of them, however, are very much smaller. 
One beautiful little Astraean, Dana's Astrangia, has its 
home in Long Island Sound, where it occurs in little 
clusters upon the stones and shells, from just below 
low-water mark even down to ten fathoms in depth. 
It thrives well in the aquarium, and eats little mol- 
lusks and other small animals with a good relish. In 
those Coral Polyps called Oculinas, the coral, when 
young, spreads so as to form a broad base ; later, beau- 
tiful tufts and treelike branches arise from this base. 
A portion of one of these Oculinas is shown in Figure 
509. 

In the great group of Fungus Corals, the coral is 
broad and flat, looking like a toadstool without a 
stem, as in Figure 510. Polyps of this kind have 



MADREPORARIA. 



261 





V" 



*^) 



Fig. 500. — Madrepore. Right-hand branches alive. 




Fig. 502. — Astroides. Coral Polyps in Fig. 504. — Dry Coral, 
various stages of expansion. Same as Fig. 503. 



262 CCELENTERATES: POLYPS. 

short lobe-like tentacles in multiples of six. Each 
specimen, like Figure 510, is the secretion of a single 
Polyp, and similar specimens are sometimes a foot or 
more in diameter. 

But some of the most interesting facts about Coral 
Polyps remain to be told. Hundreds of the islands and 
reefs in the ocean are made of coral, — the skeletons 
of Polyps. These islands and reefs are most abundant 
and most extensive in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, 
but the islands which skirt the coast of Florida — the 
Keys — are also of coral formation. Some reefs are 
small and have made only a little progress upward 
towards the surface of the water ; others are miles 
in length and breadth, and come so near the surface 
of the water that it is dangerous for vessels to sail 
over them ; and others still rise above the surface 
of the water forming islands which, in some cases, are 
covered with coral sand, and in others with a more, or 
less luxuriant growth of tropical vegetation. Reefs 
stretch north and south near New Caledonia for the 
distance of four hundred miles, and along the north- 
eastern coast of Australia for more than a thousand 
miles. When a reef or bank of coral is near the shore, 
it is called a fringing reef ; when at a distance from 
the shore, a barrier reef ; and when it surrounds a 
body of water, as is often the case in the Pacific, an atoll 
or coral island. The corals which form the principal 
part of the reefs and islands are Madrepores, Porites, 
Meandrinas, and Astraeans ; the frailer corals, such as the 
Sea Fans and other Gorgonias, adorn the reef as it 
nears the surface of the water, but do not contribute 
much to its growth. 

From what has already been said, it is hoped that 



MAUREPORARIA. 



263 




Fig. 505. — Meandrina. 





Fig. 506. — Cladocora. Fig, 507.— Star Coral, or Astraean. 





Fig. 509. — Oculina. 




Fig. 510. — Fungus Coral. 



264 CCELENTERATES : POLYPS. 

it will be understood that the reefs and islands are not 
something that the Coral Polyps build, as a mason 
builds a house, or as a bee or wasp builds her nest or 
comb, but that the reefs and islands are made up of 
the hard parts or skeletons of Polyps that lived and 
died where the reef or island now stands. 

Only about an inch of a growing coral mass or reef 
is alive, all the rest within is dead ; death goes on be- 
low as fast as growth goes on above. When the reef 
at last grows up to the surface of the water, the Polyps 
die ; for they cannot live out of water. The winds 
and waves do the rest ; they break fragments from the 
sides of the reef and pile them nearer the center ; they 
bring seaweeds and other floating materials, and cast 
them over the whole ; plants at length spring up, and 
in the course of years the island — except its broad 
beaches of coral sand — is clothed with verdure, and 
man, perhaps, comes there and makes his home. These 
little Polyps, then, are increasing the amount of dry 
land on the surface of the globe ; and in this and in 
other ways God makes their lives serve great and im- 
portant ends. 

But a history of the Polyps would be unfinished if 
we should not mention their connection with some of 
the rocks of the globe, — the limestones. It is a very 
interesting fact that reef corals and limestone, or marble, 
have essentially the same chemical composition ; and 
it is well known that some of the coral reefs of the Pa- 
cific, which have been lifted out of water by volcanic 
forces, are nearly or quite as solid as ordinary marble. 
From these facts, and many others, geologists believe 
that a large part of the limestones of the globe are 
made out of the coral reefs that grew in the old oceans, 



SPONGES. 



265 



which long before the creation of Man covered the 
countries where marble is now found. If this is true, 
many of the rocks which underlie vast countries, the 
marble temples and palaces of the East, the marble 
monuments and public buildings of our own country, 
the mortar upon the walls and ceilings of our houses, 
and the marble tables and mantelpieces so highly 
prized, have all come from the skeletons of these little 
flowerlike animals of the sea. Their skeletons have 
furnished even the blocks of marble which the sculptor 
chisels, and are thus inseparably linked with the highest 
department of culture and art. 



SPONGES. 

Naturalists formerly believed that Sponges belonged 
with the Protozoans. But it is now known that they 
are more nearly related to the Hydroids. The sim- 
plest sponges are conical or cylindrical in form, hollow, 




Fig. 511. — Sponge. 




Fig. 512. — Sponge. Alive. 



with a large opening at the top, while they are 
attached by the other end to the bottom. The wall 
of the Sponge is thick and is supported by a fibrous 
skeleton which forms the sponge of commerce. The 



266 PROTOZOANS. 

wall is pierced by numerous holes which lead into the 
central cavity, sometimes directly, sometimes by means 
of winding passages. Water is drawn into these open- 
ings by means of cilia, and is propelled out through 
the central cavity to the external opening. The water 
brings with it minute animals and plants, and bits of 
dead creatures, which the cells of the Sponge seize and 
use as food. The Sponge branches so as to form a 
colony as is seen in the Figures 511 and 512. In the 
Bath Sponge, these branches are wholly united to each 
other, so that it seems a shapeless mass. Study, how- 
ever, will show on the upper surface the large exhalent 
openings, each corresponding to a member of the 
Sponge colony. 

The Sponges mostly live in the sea ; a few inhabit 
the fresh water. They live in shallow water, attached 
to rocks, etc. Their forms are exceedingly various and 
often extremely beautiful. Some cover the rocks like 
a carpet of mosses ; others grow in massive clusters ; 
others branch like trees and shrubs ; and others still 
take the form of the most elegant cups, goblets, and 
vases. They are plentiful in tropical waters about 
coral reefs. The Sponges of commerce come from the 
Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and West India Islands. 

PROTOZOANS. 

THERE is a vast number of beings so simple in their 
structure that naturalists were in doubt, in many cases, 
whether to call them plants or animals. These are 
now called Protozoans, a word which means first or 
simplest animals. A few of the forms are shown 
in Figures 513-521, — all much enlarged, except Figure 



PROTOZOANS. 267 

521. In most cases they have neither mouth nor 
stomach, and they are exceedingly minute and mostly 
microscopic. They are doubtless more numerous 
than all the other animals of the globe, for they 
live in immense numbers in every ditch and pool, 
every stream, pond, and lake, and almost every part 
of the sea. There is scarcely a drop of stagnant water 
that is not inhabited by some of them. They were 
exceedingly abundant in the past ages of the world ; 
for their skeletons, or hard parts, fill the rocks in many 
places, and rocky strata hundreds of feet in thickness 
are wholly made up of their remains. 

One group of the Protozoans is called Infusoria, 
from having first been found in vegetable infusions, 
that is, in liquids in which plants have been soaked. 
These are very abundant in fresh water ponds, etc. 
Of these, Vorticella, Figure 513, is a well-known kind. 

There is another group called Rhizopods, — a word 
meaning root-feet, — because they throw out fibers or 
root-like appendages, as in Figures 519, 520. Many of 
these have a shell, and are often called Foraminifers 
from the pores or foramens in the shell, through which 
the appendages just mentioned are thrust out. The 
vast chalk-beds of Europe are almost wholly made of 
the shells of Rhizopods, which are so minute that a 
million are contained in a cubic inch of the challc, 
so that, small as these creatures are, they have played 
a part in the building of the world. They live mostly 
in the ocean near the surface and their shells, as they 
die, are constantly falling to the bottom. The floor 
of the ocean, away from the immediate neighborhood 
of the land is covered with a soft mud or ooze mainly 
composed of these shells. The Nummulite, Figure 



268 



PROTOZOANS. 







Fig. 514. — Gre- 

garina. Fig. 5*5. — Fig. 516. — Portion of 

Fig. 513. Vorti- Sphaerozoum. Fig. 515, magnified. 

cella. 




Fig- 5i7- — Podocyrtis. 




Fig. 518. — Lagena. 




Fig. 519 — Amoeba. 





Fig. 520. 



Fig. 521. — Nummulite. 
Polystomella. 



521, is one of the Rhizopods or Foraminifers, which 
has a shell half an inch or more in diameter in some 
cases, and divided into chambers which resemble those 
of a Nautilus or Ammonite. Extensive beds of lime- 
stone are made of Nummulites, that of which the 
Pyramids of Egypt are built is filled with shells of this 
sort. The Amoeba, Figure 519, is a Rhizopod which 
has no shell. It is a simple, almost fluid mass, seen 
only by the aid of a microscope, and it changes its 
form almost every moment. It has neither mouth 



CONCLUSION. 269 

nor stomach, yet on coming to a particle of food it 
readily closes around it and digests it, any part of the 
body being formed into mouth, stomach, or tentacles, 
as the occasion requires. 



CONCLUSION. 

In these few pages we have endeavored to make you 
acquainted with some of the principal forms in which 
animals have been created, and thus give you some 
idea of the Animal Kingdom. Although only a few 
kinds out of the many thousands now living have been 
mentioned, you have learned that all the animals 
upon our globe may be divided into eight great 
groups, — the Vertebrates or Backboned Animals, 
the Arthropods or Jointed Animals, the Mollusks 
or Soft-bodied Animals, the Vermes or Worms, the 
Echinoderms or Starfishes, the Ccelenterates or Lasso- 
throwers, the Sponges, and the Protozoans. The Tuni- 
cates are a small group related to the Vertebrates. It 
may be added that geologists tell us that all the ani- 
mals of past ages, which are now known only by their 
remains, but which were so numerous that in many 
places they fill the rocks to the depth of miles, also 
belong to either one or the other of these groups. 
Naturalists call these groups Branches. 

You have learned that the Vertebrates are divided 
into Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Batrachians, and Fishes ; 
that the Arthropods are divided into Insects, Arachnids, 
and Crustaceans ; that the Mollusks are divided into 
Cephalopods, Gastropods, and Lamellibranchia ; that 
the Echinoderms are divided into Sea Cucumbers, Sea 



270 CONCLUSION. 

Urchins, Star fishes, Serpent Stars, and Crinoids ; and 
that the Ccelenterates are divided into Jellyfishes and 
Polyps. Naturalists call these groups Classes. 

You have learned that the Mammals are divided into 
Man, Monkeys, Carnivora or Beasts of Prey, Ungulates 
or Hoofed Animals, Cetaceans or Whales, Bats, Insect- 
eaters, Rodents or Gnawers, Edentates or Marsupials ; 
that the Birds are divided into Birds of Prey, Climbers, 
Perchers, Scratchers, Runners, and Swimmers ; and that 
the Reptiles, Batrachians, and Fishes, the Insects, Crus- 
taceans, Cephalopods, Gastropods, and the other classes 
are also similarly divided into groups. Naturalists call 
these groups Orders. 

The Orders, again, are divided into Families, — for 
example, the Order of Birds of Prey is divided into 
the Family of Vultures, the Family of Falcons and 
Eagles, and the Family of Owls. Families are divided 
into Genera, — for example, the Family of Falcons is 
divided into true Falcons, Hawks, Eagles, etc. Genera 
are divided into Species, — for example, the Genus of 
true Falcons is divided into the Peregrine Falcons or 
Duck Hawks, Pigeon Falcons or Pigeon Hawks, Spar- 
row Falcons or Sparrow Hawks, etc. 

You have gained some idea of the way in which 
animals are distributed over the surface of the globe. 
Each zone of the earth's surface, each zone of height, 
each hemisphere, each grand division of the earth, has 
its own kinds of animals; even each of the different 
parts of every country has animals peculiar to itself. 
And it is so in the waters; each ocean and sea, each 
gulf and bay, and each zone of depth, has its own ani- 
mal forms, such as are found nowhere else. 

But the words of a book cannot fitly describe the 



CONCLUSION. 271 

living beings of our globe. We need to open our 
eyes and study them in the world about us. We may 
find them everywhere, — in forest and field, on the 
mountain and in the sea, in every stream, pond, and 
lake, in every pool and ditch and bog, and in every 
glass of water from the spring. Every summer's day 
brings scores of beautiful winged forms, and on every 
summer's night others not less beautiful flit about our 
lamps, or look in at our windows, tempting us to 
study and admire them. And how full of interest is 
every living creature, whether it is the Deer bounding 
through the forest or over the plain, the Eagle soaring 
above our heads until lost amid the clouds, the Butterfly 
flitting from flower to flower, the Mussel plowing its 
way into the river's sand, or the little Polyp beneath 
the ocean wave. They are interesting not merely 
on account of their varied and beautiful forms and 
colors, wonderful structure, often marvelous instincts 
and habits, and great variety of uses, but because they 
are the works of God, — His thoughts expressed in 
visible forms. If we study these wonderful objects in 
the right spirit, we shall learn more of Him who made 
them, and who careth for them, suffering not even a 
sparrow to fall without His notice. 



INDEX. 



Acalephian Coral, 252. 
Acalephs, 242. 
Acicula, 222. 
Actinaria, 258. 
Actinia, 258, 259. 
Albatross, no. 
Alcyonacea, 258. 
Alcyonaria, 255. 
Alligator, 117. 
Alpaca, 40. 
American Buffalo, 49, 
Ammonite, 208, 209. 
Amoeba, 268. 
Amphioxus, 138. 
Anaconda, 119. 
Angler, 128, 129. 
Ant, 148. 
Antedon, 242. 
Antelopes, 44. 
Ant-lions, 192. 
Apes, 23. 
Aphides, 184. 
Apteryx, 103. 
Arachnids, 193. 
Argonauts, 206, 207. 
Armadillos, 69. 
Arthropods, 139. 
Asilus Fly, 169, 172. 
Ass, 51. 
Astarte, 228. 
Asterias, 156. 
Astraeans, 260, 263. 
Astroides, 261. 
Astrophyton, 240. 
Atlanta, 222. 
Auks, 114. 
Aurelia, 247. 
Avicula, 225, 227. 
Axolotl, 123. 
Aye-aye, 26. 

NAT. HIST. AN. — li 



Baboons, 25. 
Badger, 34, 36. 
Bald Eagle, 77, 78. 
Barnacles, 201. 
Basket Fish, 240. 
Bass, 125, 126. 
Bats, 57. 

Batrachians, 120. 
Bears, 35, 36. 
Beautiful Deiopeia, 162. 
Beaver, 65. 
Bee Fly, 169, 172. 
Bees, 143. 
Beetles, 172. 
Big-horn Sheep, 47, 48. 
Birds, 72. 
Birds of Prey, 75. 
Bison, 49. 
Bittern, 105. 
Blackbirds, 98. 
Black Rat, 66. 
Black Snake, 119, 120. 
Black Snowbird, 96. 
Black Woodcock, 83. 
Blindfish. 130, 131. 
Bluebird, 89. 
Bluefish, 127, 128. 
Blue Jay, 99. 
Boa, 119. 
Bobolink, 97. 
Bolina, 245. 
Borers, 180. 
Botflies, 169, 172. 
Box Turtle, 116. 
Brachiopods. 231. 
Brain Coral, 260. 
Bream, 125, 126. 
Bryozoa, 232. 
Buccinum, 214. 
Buffalo, 49. 



273 



274 



INDEX. 



Bugs, 181. 
Bulla, 222. 
Bullimus, 221. 
Bunting, 96. 
Buprestidans, 178. 
Buprestis, 178. 
Burbot, 132. 
Butcher Bird, 91. 
Butterflies, 152. 

Caddice Fly, 193. 
California Vulture, 75, 76. 
Camel Bird, 103. 
Camels, 39. 

Campanularian, 249, 251. 
Cankerworm, 166. 
Canvasback Duck, 109. 
Capricorn Beetles, 180. 
Capybara, 65. 
Carabidae, 174. 
Cardicum, 225. 
Caribou, 42. 
Carnivora, 27. 
Carp, 128. 

Carrion Beetles, 175. 
Cashmere Goat, 48. 
Cassowaries, 103. 
Catbird, 93. 

Caterpillar Hunter, 174. 
Cats, 27. 
Cecropia. 163. 
Centipedes, 197. 
Cephalopods, 205. 
Cerithiums, 216, 217. 
Cetaceans, 53. 
Chamois, 46, 47. 
Cheiroptera, 57. 
Chewink, 97. 
Chickadees, 94. 
Chimpanzee, 23, 25. 
Chipmunk, 63. 
Chiton, 219. 
Chrysalis, 142. 
Chrysalis Shell, 221. 
Chrysomela, 181. 
Chuck-will's Widow, 85. 
Cicadas, 181. 



Civets, 31. 
Clams. 227, 229. 
Climbers, 80. 
Clio, 223. 

Clothes' Moth, 168. 
Cockroaches, 185, 186. 
Cocoon, 142. 
Cod, 130, 132. 
Coelenterates, 242. 
Ccenopsammia, 261. 
Coleoptera, 172. 
Conches, 211. 
Condor. 76. 
Cones, 214, 215. 
Congo Snake, 123. 
Conner, 128. 
Coral, 254, 256. 
Corydalus, 190. 
Coryne, 248, 249. 
Cowbird, 98. 
Cowries, 215, 216. 
Crabs, 197. 
Cranes, 103. 
Crawfish, 201. 
Creepers, 93. 
Crepidula, 219. 
Crickets, 187. 
Crinoids, 241. 
Crocodile, 117. 
Crossbills, 95. 
Crow, 99. 
Crustaceans, 197. 
Ctenophora, 244. 
Cuckoos, 81. 
Cucumber Beetle, 181 
Cud-chewers, 39. 
Curculios, 179. 
Curlews, 103, 107. 
Cursores, 103. 
Cuttlefish, 209. 
Cyclostoma, 222. 
Cytherea, 228. 

Dace, 128. 

Darning Needle, 190. 
Darter, 125. 
Deer, 40. 



INDEX. 



275 



Diptera, 168. 

Discophora, 246. 

Diver, 112. 

Dog-headed Monkeys, 26. 

Dogs, 29. 

Dolphin, 56, 128, 129. 

Doris, 222. 

Doves, 100. 

Dragon Fly, 190. 

Duckbill, 71. 

Duck Hawk, 78, 

Ducks, 109. 

Eagle, 78. 
Ear-shell, 219. 
Earthworms, 230. 
Earwig, 185. 
Echinarachnius, 236. 
Echinoderms, 233. 
Echinoidea, 234. 
Edentates, 69. 
Eel, 132, 133. 
Eelpouts, 128, 129. 
Eider Duck, 109. 
Elaters, 178. 
Elephants, 52. 
Elk, 43- 
Elysia, 222. 
Eolis, 222. 
Ephemera, 189. 
Ephyra, 247. 

Falcons, 76, 78. 
Feather Star, 242. 
Field Mouse, 67. 
Finches, 95. 
Firefly, 178. 
Fisher, 31. 
Fishes, 124. 
Fishhawks, 78. 
Flesh-eaters, 27. 
Flounders, 132, 133. 
Flower Beetles, 177. 
Fly, 168. 
Flycatchers, 87. 
Flying Fishes, 130, 131. 
Flying Squirrel, 62. 



i Foraminifers, 268. 
Foxes, 30. 
Frogs. 121. 
Frog Shell, 213. 
Fungus Corals, 260, 263. 
Fusus, 214, 215. 

Galeopithecus, 58. 
Galley Worm, 197. 
Gallflies, 150. 
Gallinules, 103, 107. 
Garfish, 130, 131. 
Garpike, 136. 
Gastrochaena, 229. 
Gastropods, 210. 
Gazelle, 46. 
Geese, 108. 
Geometers, 166. 
Gnawers, 60. 
Goats, 48. 
Godwits, 103, 107. 
Goldfinch, 95. 
Goldsmith Beetle, 177. 
Goosefish, 128, 129. 
Gophers, 63, 114. 
Gordius, 233. 
Gorgonias, 257. 
Gorilla, 25. 
Grallatores, 103. 
Grasshoppers, 188. 
Grebes, 112. 
Green Turtle, 115. 
Greenhead, 109. 
Greenland Whale, 53 
Gregarina, 268. 
Grizzly Bear, 36. 
Grosbeaks, 96. 
Ground Beetles, 174, 177. 
Ground Robin, 96. 
Grouse, 101. 
Gulls, in. 

Hagfish, 136, 138. 
Hair Worm, 233. 
Halibut, 133. 
Hammerhead Shark, 137. 
Hares, 68. 



276 



INDEX. 



Harp Shell, 214, 215. 
Harvest Flies, 181. 
Harvest Mouse, 66, 
Hawk Moths, 158. 
Hawks, 76. 
Hedgehogs, 60. 
Helicina, 222. 
Helix, 220, 221. 
Hemiptera, 181. 
Hens, 100. 
Hermit Crab, 198. 
Hermit Thrush, 88. 
Herons, J03. 
Herring, 130, 13L 
Hessian Fly, 169. 
Heteropods, 222. 
Hipparchians, 157. 
Hippopotamus, 39. 
Hoary Bat, 58. 
Hogs, 38. 
Holothurians, 233. 
Horn Bug, 176. 
Horned Pout, 130, 131. 
Horned Toad, 118. 
Hornet, 147. 
Horse, 50. 
Horsefly, 169, 177. 
Horseshoe Crab, 202. 
Humble Bee. 146. 
Humming Birds, 84. 
Hydroids, 248. 
Hyena, 29. 
Hylea, 223. 
Hymenoptera, 143. 

Ibises, 105. 
Ichneumon, 149. 
Idyia. 245. 
Imago, 141, 142. 
Infusoria, 267. 
Insect-eaters, or Insectivora, 

58. 
Insects, 139. 
Insessores, 84. 
Io, 217. 

Jaguar, 29. 



Jay, 99. 

Jellyflshes, 242. 
Jumping Mouse, 67. 

Kahau, 25. 
Kangaroos, 70. 
Katydid, 188. 
Kingbird, 87. 
Kingfishers, 86. 

Lacewings, 192. 
Ladybird, 181. 
Lagena, 268. 
Lamellibranchia, 223, 
Lammergeyer, 76. 
Lampreys, 136, 138. 
Lancelet, 138. 
Land Snails, 220, 221. 
Larks, 98. 
Larva, 141, 142. 
Lasso-throwers, 242. 
Leaf Rollers, 167. 
Leda, 225. 
Lemur, 26. 
Leopard, 27. 
Leopard Frog, 121. 
Lepidoptera, 152. 
Limacina, 223. 
Limnaea, 221. 
Limnaeidae, 220, 221. 
Limpets, 219, 220. 
Lingula, 232. 
Lion, 27. 
Lizards, 117. 
Llamas, 39, 40. 
Lobsters, 109. 
Locusts, 187. 

Long-horned Beetles, 180. 
Loon, 112. 
Lumpfish, 132, 133. 
Luna Moth, 163, 165. 
Lycosa, 194. 
Lynx, 28, 29. 

Mackerel, 126, 127. 
Mactra, 228. 
Madreporaria, 258. 



NDEX. 



V7 



Madrepores, 259, 261. 

Magpie, 99. 

Maki, 26. 

Mallard, 109. 

Mammals, 22. 

Man, 22. 

Mandrills, 26. 

Mantis, 186. 

Marginella, 215, 216. 

Marmoset, 26. 

Marsupials, 69. 

Martens, 31. 

Martin, 91. 

Maryland Yellowthroat, 90. 

Mastodon, 53. 

May Flies, 189. 

Meadow Lark, 98. 

Meandnnas, 260, 263. 

Medusae, 246. 

Melanias, 217, 218. 

Mellita, 237. 

Merulina, 263. 

Mice, 66. 

Mink, 32. 

Misippus Butterfly, 157. 

Miter Shell, 215, 216. 

Mocking Birds, 92. 

Moles, 59. 

Mollusks, 203. 

Monkeys, 23. 

Monotremes, Ji. 

Moose, 41. 

Mosquito, 168. 

Mother Cary's Chickens, in, 

Moths, 158. 

Mountain Sheep, 47, 48. 

Mud Puppy, 123. 

Mullets, 128, 129. 

Murex Shells, 212, 213. 

Musk Deer, 44. 

Musk Ox, 48. 

Muskrat, 67. 

Mussels, 227. 

Myriapods, 197. 

Mytilus, 225. 

Myxine, 136, 138. 



Natatores, 108. 
Naticas, 215, 216. 
Nautili, 208, 209. 
Necturus, 123. 
Nerita, 219. 
Neritina, 219. 
Net-winged Insects, 191. 
Neuroptera, 191. 
Nighthawk, 85. 
Nightingale, 89, 90. 
Nummulite, 267. 
Nuthatches, 93. 
Nymphalis Butterflies, 157. 

Octopus, 206, 207. 
Oculina, 260, 263. 
Odd-toed Ungulates, 50. 
Oliva Shell, 214, 215. 
Ophiurans, 240. 
Opossums, 70. 
Orang-outang, 24, 25. 
Organ-pipe Coral, 256, 258. 
Oriole, 99. 
Orthoptera, 185. 
Osprejr, 78. 
Ostriches, 103. 
Otters, 33, 34. 
Ouzel, 89. 
Owls, 79. 
Oxen, 50. 
Oyster, 225. 

Paludina, 217. 
Pandora, 229. 
Panther, 27. 
Papilio Butterflies, 155. 
Parasitic Worms, 233. 
Parrots, 81. 
Partridge, 101, 103. 
Patella, 219. 
Peach-tree Borer, 161. 
Pearl Oyster, 227. 
Peccaries, 38. 
Pectens, 225, 227. 
Penguins, 113. 
Perch, 125, 126. 



278 



INDEX. 



Perchers, 84 

Peregrine Falcon, 78. 

Periwinkles, 217, 218. 

Petrels, in. 

Pewees, 87. 

Phanaeus, 177. 

Philodice, 156. 

Phoebe Bird, 87. 

Pholades, 228, 229. 

Physa, 221. 

Pickerel, 128, 131. 

Pigeons, 100. 

Pike, 128. 

Pilot Fish, 127. 

Pine Marten, 31. 

Pipefishes, 134, 135. 

Planorbis, 221. 

Plant Lice, 184. 

Planula, 246. 

Platypus, 71. 

Plectognathi, 134. 

Pleurobrachia, 244. 

Plovers, 103, 106. 

Pocket Gopher, 64. 

Podocyrtis, 268. 

Polyps, 252. 

Polyphemus Moth, 163, 165. 

Polystomella, 268. 

Polyzoa, 232. 

Pond Snails, 220, 221. 

Porcupines, 67. 

Porgee, 126. 

Porites, 259, 261. 

Porpoise, 56. 

Portugese Man-of-war, 250, 

251. 
Poulp, 206, 207. 
Prairie Chicken, 101. 
Prairie Dog, 63. 
Primnoa, 256, 257. 
Prionus, 181. 
Proboscidea, 52. 
Promethea, 163, 164. 
Pronghorn Antelope, 45. 
Protozoans, 266. 
Pseudoneuroptera, 189. 
Ptarmigans, 101. 



Pteropods, 222. 
Puffers, 134, 135. 
Puffin, 114. 
Puma, 28. 
Pupa, 141, 142. 
Pupa Shell, 221. 
Pyramid Shells, 215, 216. 
Pyrula, 213. 
Python, 119. 

Ouadrumana, 23. 
Quails, 102. 

Rabbits, 68. 

Raccoon, 36. 

Rails, 103, 107. 

Raptores, 75. 

Rasores, 100. 

Rattlesnake, 120. 

Rats, 66. 

Raven, 99. 

Rays, 136, 138. 

Razor Shell, 227, 228. 

Red Bat, 58. 

Red Coral, 257. 

Red Squirrel, 61. 

Reedbirds, 97. 

Reindeer, 42. 

Remora, 132, 133. 

Renilla, 256, 257. 

Reptiles, 114. 

Rhea, 103. 

Rhinoceros, 51. 

Rhizopods, 267. 

Ricinula, 214. 

Right Whale, 53. 

River Mussels, 226, 227. 

River Snails, 217, 218. 

Robins, 88. 

Rocky Mountain Goat, 45, 46. 

Rodents, 60. 

Rotula, 237. 

Rove Beetle, 176. 

Ruby-crowned Wren, 88, 89. 

Ruffed Grouse, 101. 

Ruminants, 39. 

Runners, 103. 



INDEX. 



279 



Sables, 31. 
Salamanders, 122. 
Salmon, 130, 131. 
Salt-marsh Moth, 162. 
Sand Fleas, 201. 
Sapsuckers, 83. 
Satyrus Butterfly, 157. 
Sawfish, 137. 
Sawflies, 151. 
Scallops, 225, 227. 
Scansores, 80. 
Scarabaeidae, 176. 
Scorpion Bug, 184. 
Scorpions, 196. 
Scorpion Shell, 212. 
Scratchers, 100. 
Sculpins, 126, 127. 
Scupaug, 127. 
Scutularians, 251. 
Scyphostoma, 246. 
Sea Anemones, 252, 258. 
Sea Cucumbers, 233. 
Sea Fan, 256, 257. 
Sea Horse, 134, 135. 
Seal, 37. 
Sea-pen, 257. 
Sea Ravens, 125, 126. 
Sea Robins, 125, 126. 
Sea Slugs, 222. 
Sea Stars. 238. 
Sea Urchins, 234. 
Seaworm, 230. 
Selachians, 136. 
Serpents, 118. 
Serpent Stars, 240. 
Serpula, 230. 
Sesias, 161. 
Sharks,i36, 137, 138. 
Sheep, 47. 
Shiners, 128, 131. 
Shipworms, 228, 229. 
Shore Lark, 94. 
Shrews, 58. 
Shrike, 91. 
Shrimp, 198, 199. 
Sigaretus, 216. 
Silkworm Moths, 161. 



Siphonophora, 251. 
Siren, 123. 
Skates, 136, 138. 
Skippers, 158. 
Skunk, 34. 
Skylark, 94. 
Slugs, 221, 222. 
Snails, 210. 
Snakes, 118. 
Snap Beetles, 178. 
Snapping Turtle, 114. 
Snipes, 103, ic6. 
Snowbird, 96. 
Soft-finned Fishes, 128. 
Solen, 227, 228. 
Sparrows, 96. 
Sparrow Hawk, 78. 
Sperm Whale, 54. 
Sphaerium, 228. 
Sphaerozoum, 268. 
Sphargis, 116. 
Sphingidae, 158, 161. 
Sphinx, 160. 
Spider Monkey, 25, 26. 
Spiders, 193. 

Spine-finned Fishes, 126. 
Spiny Ant-eater, 72. 
Spirula, 208, 209. 
Sponges, 265. 
Spotted Pelidnota. 177. 
Spring Beetles, 178. 
Squash Bug, 185, 
Squid, 206, 207. 
Squirrels, 61. 
Stake-driver, 105. 
Starfishes, 238. 
Stargazers, 125, 126. 
Stickleback, 125, 126. 
Stilts, 103, 107. 
Stone Fly, 190. 
Stormy Petrel, in. 
Straight-winged Insects, 185. 
Striped Gopher, 63. 
Strobila, 246. 
Strombs, 211, 212. 
Sturgeon, 134. 
Suckers, 128, 136. 



220 



INDEX. 



Sunfishes, 134, 135. 
Surgeon, 128, 129. 
Swallows, 90. 
Swans, 108. 
Swimmers, 108. 
Sword Bearers, 188. 
Swordfish, 126, 127. 

Tapeworm, 233. 
Tapirs, 52. 
Tellina, 228. 
Tent Caterpillar, 165. 
Terebratula, 232. 
Terns, III. 
Threadworms, 233. 
Thrushes, 88. 
Thyasira, 228. 
Tiaropsis, 249, 251. 
Tiger, 28. 
Tiger Beetles, 173. 
Tinean, 168. 
Titmouse, 94. 
Toadfish, 128. 
Toads. I2i. 

Toothless Mammals, 69. 
Toothshell, 219. 
Tornatella. 222. 
Torpedo, 136, 138. 
Tortoises, 114. 
Tower Shell, 217, 218. 
Towhee Bunting, 96. 
Tree Beetles, 177. 
Tree Frog, 122. 
Tree Hoppers, 183. 
Trichina, 233. 
Tridacna, 225. 
Trilobite, 201. 
Triton, 122. 
Tritonia, 222. 
Tritonium, 213. 
Trivia, 216. 
Trochus, 219. 
Trout, 130, 131. 
Trunkfish, 134, 135. 
Tubularia, 249, 251. 
Tuft-gilled Fishes, 133. 
Tunicates, 139. 



Turkeys, 100. 
Turnstones, 103. 
Turritella, 217, 218. 
Turtles, 114. 

Two-winged Insects, 168. 
Ungulates, 37. 
Unios, 226, 227. 

Valvata, 217. 
Vermes, 229. 
Vermetus, 217, 218. 
Verrucella, 256. 
Vertebrates, 19. 
Violet Snails, 218, 219. 
Vireos, 92. 

Virginia Deer, 43, 44. 
Volutes, 215, 216. 
Vorticella, 267, 268. 
Vultures, 76. 

Waders, 103. 
Walking Leaf, 186. 
Walking Stick, 186. 
Walrus, 37. 
Wapiti, 43- 
Warblers, 90. 
Wasps, 146. 
Water Beetles, 175. 
Watering-pot Shell, 229. 
Weakfish, 126, 127. 
Weasels, 31, 32. 
Weevils, 179. 
Wentletraps, 217, 218. 
Whales, 53. 
Wharf Rat, 66. 
Wheat Fly, 170. 
Whelks, 213. 
Whippoorwill, 85. 
Whirligig Beetle, 175. 
White Boar, 38. 
White Butterflies, 156. 
White-footed Mouse, 66, 67. 
White Whale, 57. 
Wild Cat, 29. 
Wing-shells, 211. 
Wolverine, 33. 
Wolves, 29, 30. 



INDEX. 



281 



Wombat, 71. 
Woodcocks, 103. 
Wood Duck, 109. 
Woodpeckers, 82. 
Worms, 229. 
Worm-shell, 217, 218. 
Wrens, 93. 



Yellowbird, 95. 
Yellow Butterflies, 156. 
Yellowlegs, 103, 106. 
Yellowthroat, 90, 

Zebra, 51. 
Zebu, 50. 



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1*72] 



